Sakura was a good girl
by x.b.o.o.x
Summary: Based on the songs Skater Boy by Avril and Molly by MSI, a story about a good girl in love with a bad boy.
1. At homeroom

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

Based on the songs Molly by Mindless Self Indulgence and Sk8ter Boi by Avril Lavinge

"_Shit."_

A pink haired girl raced through the doors of her homeroom, skidding to a halt in her seat sighing with relief as the late bell rang. _Yay…._ She closed her eyes, pulling her messenger bag off her shoulder and letting it slide down beside her.

"Cutting it a little close this morning, eh Billboard?" The blonde girl in the seat next to her laughed, flipping her hair oh-so subtly as she turned to face her, "you were supposed to meet me at the bathroom by the office this morning!"

"Oh, right… sorry!" she laughed, blushing slightly; "I forgot to set my alarm this morning…" she smiled, running her fingers through her hair nervously.

"Don't stress it! I was just kidding! I kid 'cause I love! You know that!" Ino said. "Can I still do your hair? We have fifteen minute still homeroom is over after all…"

"Of course Piggy-chan!" She smiled, pulling out a brush. They had been best friends since the beginning of time, always competing, their drive to be better then the other always keeping them at the top of the class, the two prettiest girls in school. They had it all. Normal families. Weekly confessions of love from boys. Good grades. And they still managed to train and stay in top physical shape.

"Oh look who decided to show up for homeroom, how off…" Ino whispered, staring at the boy who had just walked in.

"Late Uchiha? I'm going to have to write you up. If you're going to come to home room at least come on time," the teacher, Hayate-sensei, said between coughs.

"Humph," the pale boy with black hair and eyes, said collapsing in a chair stretching out the chains of his pants moving loudly against the chair.

"Lowlife…" Ino said, pulling Sakura's hair into a messy Pollyanna 1, "at this point he just shouldn't bother coming to homeroom. He always puts a black cloud over the whole room… And his clothes are so black and baggy, its like he really _is_ a black cloud."

"He's not that bad," she said softly, wincing as Ino tugged.

"Oh really?" Ino said, laughing again finishing it off, "what do you think?"

Sakura pulled a compact from her bag smiling adjusting her bangs, "thanks! I didn't have time this morning to do my hair so yep!"

Ino smiled, saying, "So what do you mean 'He's not that bad'?"

"Umm… I donno… I sit next to him in art, when he comes, and he's always… polite I guess…Besides! I thought you went for the 'Rebel without a cause' thing?" she said sticking out her tongue.

"Polite? What does that mean?" Ino said sitting on her desk flipping her hair casually again.

"I don't know… He just is…"

"Just what? You shouldn't date boys like him, seriously. Sure they're cute, and some may even be nice, but in the end it isn't worth it. I heard the boy lived alone, because his parents were gone. Do you seriously want to deal with that?" At this moment the bells of fate rang, aka the bell that signals homeroom to be over, interrupting her.

Sakura gathered up her stuff placing it in her bag and stood running into the Uchiha, "Oh I'm sorry Sasuke…" She stammered blushing slightly.

He caught her to keep her from falling on top of him. He held her for a second before bending down slightly saying, "I'd prefer it if you didn't talk about my past with your friends. It's not your or her business." He let go, steadying her slightly before moving swiftly out of the classroom.

"Polite eh?" Ino said laughing, poking Sakura in the arm before heading off to her next class in the opposite direction.

_Yeah… Polite…. _She thought, sighing, _I could never be his type anyway…_

"Sakura! Wait, wait!"

She turned and smiled, "Hey Naruto, how are you today?" She said turning to see the blonde hyperactive boy.

_This was a boy I could have, no one would state and wonder why. _

"I'm doing better now that you're here!" he smiled, winking at her. "By the way, have you heard about the concert tomorrow? You like Relient k right?" He smiled slyly knowing the answer already.

"I love them! But I forgot to get tickets early so yeah…" the pink haired girl said sadly looking down walking all the while to her history class.

"Good news then!" Naruto smiled brightly moving in front of her whipping out three tickets, "Just in case Ino doesn't have one either."

"Thank you so much! You have no idea how much this means!" She smiled and hugged him tightly, taking two of the tickets, Naruto laughed.

"I'll have to get you tickets again if I know you're going to react like this. My father owns the Electric Factory where they're playing tomorrow so I can get you tickets for most anything." He smiled, hugging her back. Coming to slightly Sakura blushed and pulled away, realizing she had just hugged the hottest boy in school. _ I can almost feel a hundred sets of eyes shooting lasers at me… _

"Thank you times a thousand and two! I'll let you know if I do mmkay? This is my class," Sakura said smiling still and opened the door to the class and stepped in still blushing. She sat down in her seat in the second row, pulling out her binder.

TIME SKIP TO NEXT DAY!

I hope sincerely that you all liked it! - it was kind of ….fill in black

Please review!

1 For those that lack a sense in fashion… or just don't know about girl's hair styles its like a haft ponytail.


	2. To the concert

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the gloriously sexy characters!

Thank you so much for the reviews! Molto grazie's to LV-Chan for editing my comma-less, before she gets to them, fan fictions… even if I have to endure the comma song….

She held up a yellow dress up to her, as she stood before a mirror. The dress was yellow with black poka dots, it was fitted below the bust but then flowed out and had little black buttons going down the front. _No… Way too bright, Sasuke would never go for a girl wearing a dress like this… Wait! Wait am I saying? It's not like I'll even see him here tonight! I'm officially insane… _

Sakura threw the dress on her bed anyway in the "no way" pile and picked up a black Lolita looking skirt that puffed out and had lace fringe on the underside and a black shirt with a scoop-neck and pulled them on. She evaluated herself in the mirror smiling slightly, _perfect… but missing something…_

She got a black headband and a loose fitting black spiked belt and a pair of boots, and then finished it off with a fresh eye-liner job._ Now it's complete! _She smiled to her self. Just then her phone started ringing across the room, she dived under a pile of clothing looking for it, before flipping it open.

"Hey Piggy-chan! What's up?" she said, having recognized the ringtone of "Smack That" before she had even found it.

"Billboard-bozo! Ready yet? I'm leaving to pick you up now so you better be! Or did you forget that my mom is dropping us off?"

"Not at all! I was just finishing up my make up," she smiled, "how are we going to get home?"

"Not sure yet! We'll decide when we get there I guess! Maybe a cab?"

"Mmkay! See you in five!"

"Right, leaving the house now, peace out chicka."

Sakura snapped shut her phone excited already for the night to come, Relient k was her favorite band after all, despite the Christian factor. She slipped her phone into her pocket, she wasn't taking a bag to the concert.

She sat waiting for a couple minutes before she heard a car honking out front. She ran outside and hopped into the back of Ino's mother's black SUV.

"Just what are you wearing Billboard? You look way too… dark. It's not a good look for you at all!" Ino stated judgmentally after she got a good look at her pink haired friend.

"I don't know… I was trying to go for a new look! Besides my sister gave me this skirt last Christmas and I've never worn it so I might as well now! And isn't black a good color on me?" She said sticking out her tongue.

"I know! You're trying to be more like Sasu-chan's type! HA! Now it makes sense!"

"Who's this 'Sasu-chan' Ino? A boy at your school I imagine," asked her smiling mother, an annoyingly intuitive mother that was young and stylish. The school's hottest PTA mom.

"Just this really shady guy that Sakura here has a cru---."

At this point Sakura jumped from the back and tackled Ino's seat from behind quickly covering her mouth. Whispering angrily, "I do not like him that way!"

"Hmm? What's this all about? Usually boys fall in love with her! This must be a first, how sweet," said Ino's mother sickeningly sweetly.

"I don't! At least not like that…. So! Do you know if any other bands are playing?" Sakura stated changing the subject.

"Eh? Oh! I think Mae and… Sherwood? Mae is good but I've never heard of Sherwood so I can't judge."

"I love Mae! I feel stupid… I didn't know they were playing tonight!"

"Well Naruto did just give you the tickets!" Ino said laughing.

"True…" Sakura said thinking to herself.

The rest of the drive continued onward the conversations of foolish gossip and the like, while blaring Sadie Hawkins dance and the like (1) until they pulled up infront of the Electric Factory.

There was already a line forming outside, so much so that they weren't bothering to separate the boys from the girls in the body check.

"Sakuuuuuuuraaaa-chaaaan! Innnnnnnnno-chaaaan! Hey! What's up?" Naruto and Kiba came running up laughing, Naruto in baggy jeans and an orange polo, Kiba in a baggy sweatshirt and jeans, topped off with a pair of black high-tops.

"Hey, nothing much! How's it going?" Sakura asked as they all walked to the line to get checked.

"Good, good! Nice outfit Sakura-chan! It's not like you at all, but you in a garbage bag would look hot!" Kiba exclaimed.

"Oh… um… thanks Kiba!" Sakura said blushing a bit.

"What about me?!" Ino exclaimed posing in a lose purple camisole over a white wife-beater and outmoded jeans with purple butterflies wrapped around the leg.

"You always look hot Ino!" laughed Kiba, exclaiming his usual happy, perverted self, "especially in purple! It's the color of royalty after all!"

They laughed moving closer to the door.

When it was finally their turn to be searched Sakura moved up, looking at the guard and jumping back slightly.

"Sa- Sasu- Sasuke?!?! What are you doing here?" stuttered Sakura barely able to speak properly.

"Hm? Spread your arms up, I'm a security man. A friend of mine, Neji, is a permanent here. They were short handed for tonight, so he asked if I could cover. Is that your phone? You like Relient k?" he asked as he searched her running his hands over her, meanwhile Naruto looking as if he could kill.

"Yes, it is my phone, and yeah. Relient k is like my favorite band…" she blushed slightly looking down.

"Sweet, they do have some good songs. Devastation and Reform (2) is pretty good. Maybe I'll come find you during the show," he said smiling looking down at her, "you look cute in black, I'm all finished."

Sakura smiled back replying with a "thanks" and moving inside waiting for her friends to join her.

"That Sasuke was all over you," Naruto said, clearly angry with more than a hint of jealousy. "Punk scum…" he murmured under his breath.

"Well who wouldn't be?" Kiba said laughing, "It is Sakura after all!"

"I'm with Naru-kun!" Ino stated boldly, "they just wouldn't work. The villain getting the princess… it just doesn't work that way!"

"Of course! Besides I get bad vibes from him," Naruto stated in a matter of fact way.

"Maybe…." Sakura mumbled.

"Oh look! The first band is about to start!"

"Hey everyone! Are you ready?" the front man of Sherwood called out to the crowd.

_Doncha just love cliff hangers?_

1. Awesome song by Relient k!

2. A more hardcore-ish song by Relient k.

Please review!

For the next like week or so it's the last week before the marking period is over, and Spring Break, so next week I probably won't get a chance to update at all but the week after that is Spring Break so I shall definitely! Thank you so much for reading!


	3. Redbull and Swedish Fish

Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto, any of the characters mentioned, Swedish Fish, Redbull, Relient k (though I wish I did….) or any of their lyrics.

Special thanks to my editor LV-chan for having to suffer through my stories numerous times in study halls and lunch hours spent in the library! Without her I would be nothing at all! You all should worship the comma filled ground she walks on! (Also meaning: She told me to mention her. And no, she only edits it like once.)

I hope that you enjoy my hopeless story!

It's delicious! (Favorite word)

EDIT: Okay, I deleted this chapter so that I could do some editing because it hadn't saved everything I had changed about it! Sorry if you read the first chapter and were all like "omg this sucks!" even if I haven't really changed all that much about it.

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The first two sets passed without incident, the four friends rocking out to a band they had never heard before and simply enjoying themselves.

-Behind the stage with Sasuke and Neji-

"Hey Neji, will I be able to take a break during the show?" Sasuke asked, as him and his equally pale friend stood before the entrance guarding people from entering the stage while the band Sherwood played. Neji had long black hair that he pulled back into a lose ponytail, knotted at the bottom. He was pale and with the strangest of eyes, that he usually covered with a black blindfold or sunglasses, but now his goal was to look intimidating so he didn't bother.

"Why does it matter?" he asked his voice deep and uncaring with an underlined hint of suspicion.

"I like the band and I have some… friends in the audience," a picture of a certain pink haired girl crossing his mind.

"Friends?" Neji asked suspiciously.

"Just a girl," he replied knowing Neji would've gotten it out of him one way or another, preferring the less painful way and just telling him straight out.

"Hmm… Well more people are coming between Mae and Relient, so we can take off during the Relient set, but we'll have to be back within 4 or so songs."

"We?"

"Yeah… I need to see what kind of girl it is that made you actually feel something."

"What do you mean? I don't feel anything."

"You've never asked to take a break for a girl before, I want to meet her."

"So you can steal her?"

"Naw…" Neji said, with a slight smirk, then mumbled under his breathe, "At least for now."

"There's nothing to steal, we aren't anything," he then thought to himself sadly, "besides, a girl like her, and a boy like me…. There's no way that I could ever be her type."

Thus the two darkly clad, angsty teens went back to guarding in silence thinking to themselves.

-End of first set-

Sakura, Ino, Kiba, and Naruto all stood together panting, having just spent the last hour and a half jumping up and down screaming. They had been standing in the center of the crowd, unaware of all the stares they had been getting. Four perfectly beautiful teenagers rocking out, letting the music course its way through their bodies. They gave themselves over, letting it dictate their prefect movements.

A girl wearing a purple button-up sweater and jeans, her silky blonde hair falling down past her waist, the envy of every frizzy, or knotty haired girl in the place, smiled making a joke causing a fresh wave of laughter through the group.

A tan boy with spiky brown hair and curious red triangles beneath both his eyes, he had a friendly look about him that made it hard not to run up and hug him, or pet him.

A blonde boy, the lighting seemed to fall on him just perfectly, while leaving all others in darkness, his hair elegantly disheveled as he jumped up and down laughing his arms pumping above his head.

Then a gothic looking girl with bright pink hair, she naturally stood out without even realizing it because of the shade of her hair, but it was more, the way she was smiling, her eyes, her whole appearance, that made all other girls, apart from the blonde it appeared, stay away in fear of comparison.

This quartet, still drawing eyes, moved to the back towards the stands selling food and drink.

"Does anyone want anything?" Naruto asked pulling out a two-thousand-yen note.

"Yeah, some Red Bull!" Kiba exclaimed.

"I'll take some too, I'm a bit tired," Sakura said still pink in the face.

"That and some Swedish Fish!" Ino put in.

"Okay! I'll be back!" Naruto said moving away.

"Hey, wait! I'm coming with you, in case you need any help carrying anything," Sakura said catching up to him, putting her hand on his arm.

"Sounds good! Are you having fun?" he asked smiling down at her as the the crowd parted slightly letting them pass.

"Of course! I'm having a blast, I can't thank you enough for giving us the tickets, do you want me to pay you back though?" Sakura asked as they stepped in line.

"No way! It was a _gift_ after all!" Naruto laughed, poking her nose.

"You sure?" she asked again, already knowing the answer.

"Yep! And I'm not letting you pay for the drinks either, just so you know."

"Figured you wouldn't…" she mumbled as they reached the front.

"He- he- hello…." The boy at the front said, blatantly staring at the beautiful blonde boy before him.

"Uh… hey… Can I get four Red's and a Swedish fish?" Naruto asked, a little freaked by the way the boy was staring.

"Huh…what? Oh right! Got it, anything else?" he said coming back down to earth.

"Nope."

"Right that'll be fifteen hundred yen," the poor boy said not daring to look up. His vibrant red hair falling into his face as if to block the blonde's view of him, but it failed to cover up the strange tattoo on the right side of his forehead, or the over excessive amounts of black eye makeup he was wearing.

Naruto handed him the money and took the fish and two drinks, not bothering to get the change, handing the other two to Sakura and they walked back to the other two.

"Ah, sweet!" Kiba grabbed his drink from Naruto and chugged it in a manner of seconds, before tilting back his head and howling, in a most wolf-like fashion, as his name would dictate.

"Oh my God Kiba!" You're officially insane! Doesn't that burn your throat?!" Ino squealed.

"Cha,(1) that's what makes them so awesome," he said laughing. The rest doing the same, chugging down the Red Bulls. Naruto was laughing, the two girls coughing and looking sour, before throwing their cans in the recycling.

The quartet moved back into the crowd popping Swedish Fish.

"Hey, I'm going to go to the girl's room," Sakura said moving away.

"Want me to go with you?" Ino offered.

"Ni, I'm all peace."

On her way back she felt someone put a hand on her arm.

"Excuse me," a boy, had just walked up to Sakura, putting his hand on her arm, and asked, "can I buy you a drink, or want to dance, or something?"

He was wearing all black, a black beater with jeans and a liberty spiked belt. His ears wear pierced with gauges, his lip and eyebrow as well. He also had black vine-like tattoos snaking their ways up his arm. (I'm sorry if my stereotypical "Scary boy" offends anyone I really don't mean it too!)

"Huh…? Why?" Sakura said, frankly shocked. It wasn't as if she was not used to having boys fawn over her, it was part of her daily routine. But this boy wasn't the usual type. Usually, they looked as if they owned what ever room they were in, wearing bright colors and looked more fitting for an Abercrombie magazine then high school. But, the boy that stood before her was wearing tight jeans, a band t-shirt and several belts around his waist, he looked nothing like anyone that had asked her out in the past.

She suddenly felt someone place an arm around her waist, her body stiffening, worried that the owner of the arm was scarier then the man before her, too scared to look up.

"Sorry but, this one's mine, so you're going to have to find some other girl to bother. Got it memorized? (2)" the voice sounded so familiar, so comforting. The boy simply growled and moved away.

Sakura, finally gaining the strength looked up and sighed with relief, seeing that the arm was attached to the body of Sasuke. He moved letting go of her and stepping next to a strange boy. He had curious eyes, they were lilac with no pupil, his long black hair was pulled back with a thin headband, which he some how managed to make not look girly.

"Hello, my name is Neji," he said with mocking eyes, and a deep seductive voice. "What is your name?"

"I'm Sakura," she said, blushing. Something about this other boy just made her want to melt, she couldn't explain it.

"A beautiful name for a beautiful girl," he said taking her chin in his hand, moving close to her, tilting her chin up to his face, barely inches away, "Aow!"

Sasuke had kicked Neji's legs, causing him to fall on the ground, and said, "Stop messing with her," before reaching out his hand and pulling him up.

"Heh, nothing eh?" he smirked bowed, apologizing to Sakura.

"Huh? Oh don't worry! I'm fine!" she laughed her heartbeat going back to normal, she flipped open her cell, to check the time, "oh snap! It's been like ten minutes! They're probably freaked! I'm sorry, but I have to go!" She snapped her phone back and slid it into her pocket then turned back to them, "wanna come? You guys might actually have a good time! Pleaaase!"

"Sure, we'll come with. I'm interested in seeing what kind of people Sasuke's school friends are," Neji said, the mocking smile back in place.

"They aren't my friends," Sasuke mumbled, so only Neji could here. Neji with a smile that looked as if to say 'Oh really?'.

The three of them moved through the crowd, finding Ino, Kiba, and Naruto just as Relient k stepped on to the stage with a deafening scream from the crowd.

-End of chapter three-

Yes, I did just make Kiba say 'cha'

Yes, I did just make someone say Axel's catch phrase. Because I'm cool like that.

By the way, between sets it too like an hour (when my friend and I went to the Relient k show) so yep…

They just keep getting longer!

Thank you all very much for reading!

Thank you even more if you review!

I hope that everyone has a glorious Spring and that the flowers are a bloomin' where you are!


	4. Dancing and Darkness

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the lyrics or Naruto.

Meep! I hope you all enjoy my amazingly corny story! Its pretty nifty, I like it! Though true I'm also a crazed fan girl so my opinion doesn't really matter.

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They had finally gotten back to the ground when all the lights in the Electric Factory suddenly blacked out.

A couple girls squealed, boys screamed, trying to scare those around them, some laughed, some were quiet.

Then all was silent.

_Shit…. What's going on…? Is the power out…? _

Sakura was getting freaked out, she hated the dark, a lot.

"Hey, you okay right?" Sasuke leaned in, whispering in her ear.

"Yeah…." She said nervously, instinctively hugging him. He looked slightly concerned through the darkness holding her protectively.

Suddenly the sound of a guitar, ripped through the silence, greeted by the excited chorus of screams from the crowd then the entire band started playing, at the same moment as the lights burst on.

Sasuke and Sakura let go immediately as the lights went on, both blushing slightly, Ino and Neji giving curiously amused looks, Kiba didn't notice, as usual, and Naruto looked, again, as if he was about to murder Sasuke.

Mathew Theisson started singing at this point:

"_All the girls in the bathroom talkin'  
Who they gonna take to the Sadie Hawkins?  
My ears are burning, but I kept on walking  
A smile on my face, and an air guitar rocking."_

Sakura and Ino turned to each other, sharing some unseen bond, as both of their favorite song was played out, the belted out the chorus in unison, both laughing,

"The Sadie Hawkins Dance, in my Khaki pants  
There's nothing better. OH! OH! OH!  
The girls ask the guys, it's always a surprise.  
There's nothing better. Baby, do you like my sweater?"

They, still laughing danced together jumping up and down holding hands pumping them in the air.

Despite their harsh words, and the way they were always competing against the other over, _everything_ they were still best friends, and had been since they were toddlers and Sakura was still un-cool and un-popular.

They sang and danced through the rest of the song until it finished up and the lead singer called to the crowd, "Hey everyone! Ya'll having a great time?"

The audience cried a chorus of, "Hell yeahs!"

"I'm glad!" he laughed then the next song started to play loudly over the E Factory.

The way that girl can break a heart  
It's like a work of art  
And this is the worst part  
She knows it

And she's so confident  
That she's what everybody wants  
But nobody wants  
Her to know that

So fall back on all of your premonitions  
And just learn to listen  
To those that have more wisdom than you  
And just stop  
Putting so much stock  
In all of this stuff  
Live your life for those you love

And I'm still waiting for  
You to be the one I'm waiting for 

Both Naruto and Sasuke at this point think in unison, "Wow… it's as if they wrote this song for her," "her" being the magenta haired girl dancing in front of them.

_The way that girl can turn a head  
Well she is such a threat  
But don't ever forget  
She knows it_

And she's got it all  
All figured out  
And she won't let you doubt  
She knows it

I'm still waiting for  
You to be the one I'm waiting for

Something tells me that this is going to make sense  
Something tells me it's going to take patience  
Something tells me that this will all work out in the end

During the next song, Be My Escape, Naruto and Sakura were dancing together, meaning that Naruto was standing behind her, holding on to her waist as they jumped up and down. This form of dancing caused Sasuke to plan out Naruto's death in about a thousand different ways, not to mention the hundreds of other boys in the Factory. (Note! I don't plan on making Sasuke actually kill Naruto!)

As the brilliantly, beautiful couple danced together they sang the words by heart positively beaming. Sakura looked over her shoulder at Naruto, laughing at the end of the song and collapsed, tired from all the dancing.

Sasuke looked away, angry with himself and turned to Neji, who was dancing with some random slut, "Let's go back, they're probably wondering where we are and I don't want you to be in trouble."

"Hmm?" Neji peered around and saw Sakura and Naruto together, "that would be why?"

"Not at all. I just don't want you fired. Why should I care if she likes some preppy asshole better than a…."

"Punk scum bag?" Neji completed.

"Yeah… let's go."

Neji shrugged, and thus the two angst-filled guards went back to their post for the rest of the show.

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Conversations between my editor and I

LV: I love being your editor  _I feel important._

Me: ...

Me: go die

LV: I know you say that with love 

Me: sure ... love

BUT! Just so you know, I don't cause her (much) pain! And the great mystical force of Karma takes its toll on her begotten soul!

Me: I 3 karma

Me: its sexy

LV: You and your fucking karma can go commit double suicide.

This isn't completely edited I'm afraid so if my grammar makes you cry I'm so sorry!

Oh, by the way, until I get ten more reviews, until I get up to 24 reviews, I'm not posting anything, there is something seriously twisted about having 654 hits and 14 reviews…. Seriously.


	5. Anger

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the splendid characters.

Hello! Thank you to all of you that reviewed! It makes me so happy, when I log on to MSN in the morning and see an inbox full of messages stating that I have a new review for the story!

Please keep in mind that this story is written while my pathetic editor is in Nashville… if you live there… follow her around, print this out, and make her edit it! Bwahaha!

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Sakura, still laughing, pulled away from Naruto looking around, looking for Neji and Sasuke.

"Huh…? Where did they go?" Sakura asked still looking for them.

Naruto smirked, and turned around, as if looking for them, "I'm not sure, guess it wasn't important for them to stay."

"Hm…" Sakura looked down.

"Hey! Don't do that! You've got Naruto here! Who needs Sasuke anyway? He's just a prick you know!" Ino said, pouncing on Sakura's back laughing.

"Huh? You're right! I mean he left without even saying bye! That's so rude…" Sakura stated, she was hurt that he would just leave, without any word, _Maybe Ino and Naruto were right about him…._ She smiled and wrapped her arms around Naruto, dancing with him.

Kiba looked down, he didn't really have anything against Sasuke, with his dog like personality he didn't have anything against _anyone_ really…. Plus he would easily see that Sakura was in pain, which made him want to pounce on her and lick her face, which he realized would be highly inappropriate, and would give away her "cleverly" disguised sadness.

For the rest of the concert the four of them danced together, the highlights being Kiba and Naruto grinding on each other in order to give a large portion of squealing fan girls nose bleeds, and Kiba biting a boy that touched Ino's butt.

At the end of the show Naruto and Kiba left, after offering them a ride, but Sakura said that they could handle it on their own, but thank you anyway.

So Ino and Sakura sat outside of the Electric Factory at 1 A.M. with a large amount of people waiting for rides, but soon the numbers started to thin out.

"Hey Ino… What are we going to do now…?" Sakura asked, getting a little freaked out, it had started to rain, and she was wearing little clothing, not to mention the scary, drunk man that was stumbling across the parking lot, that had thankfully, not noticed the two beautiful, vulnerable, girls.

"I don't know… We need to get a cab, I think I know somewhere we can go…"Ino said, curling up in a ball, freezing.

"Yeah… I think I have the number for a company in my phone," she said hopefully, flipping out her phone, she had it so she called, giving her location, "thank goodness… they'll be here in five minutes."

"Sweet…" Ino said, smiling.

The cab came, and they both jumped in, grateful for the warmth and the comfort.

"Where two?" the cabby asked, smiling.

"The Naked Café, on Walnut Ave," Ino said.

"Alright, Walnut?" he asked, puzzled by two young girls requesting to go to a Café with such a name, in the theater section of town.

"Yep!" Ino said sitting back, pretending not to notice the shocked, confused look on Sakura's face.

"Um Ino…" Sakura began.

"Don't worry." All was quiet for a minute before they pulled up before a cute little café with a sign reading "The Naked Café" about it lit up and filled with younger twenty some people, eating and drinking hot chocolate and pastry looking things.

Ino paid the driver and stepped out smiling.

"Naked Café?" Sakura asked confused.

"A chocolate café, nice eh?" She smiled again and opened the door for her.

"Yeah, it's cute!" She smiled and walked up to the counter turning to Ino and saying, "Um… what's good here?"

"Ino-chan!" A blonde girl with spiked buns called from behind the counter.

"Hey Temari! What's up?" She smiled, calling back.

"Just about to get off! I'll grab you guys something, sit anywhere, I'll join you in a minute," she smiled waving.

"Okay!" Ino and Sakura sat at a table near a window watching some people walk by.

"Hey, what is with you and Sasuke?" Ino asked, her eyes sly, but honestly wanting to know, "I mean… you like him right? You know my view on him…"

"Well… I don't know… maybe you're right about him, maybe I shouldn't be with him…. He's rough around the edges, that's for sure…. His parents were killed in a fire, right?" she said, looking down.

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter, it's true I don't like him, but what do you feel?"

"Nothing. At this point actually, I'm realizing that it's impossible. Besides my fans would kill him," she said, sticking out her tongue.

"Kill who?" Temari asked, sitting down with a tray containing three peppermint hot chocolates, and a slice of amazing looking chocolate cake.

"Just this boy," Ino said, taking a sip of her cup.

"Hmm… Oh! I have news! I'm going to be transferring to your school soon!" She said happily.

"Awesome!" Ino exclaimed, then turned to Sakura explaining, "Temari goes to Sabaku High, we met at the district cheerleading competition!"

"I see!" Sakura smiled.

"Uh huh! What are you guys doing after this?" Temari asked, taking another sip.

"Actually… we don't really know," Ino said, laughing.

"Sleep at my place then! It'll be fun!" Temari offered brightly.

"Thank you so much! You've saved me a really awkward call to our parents," Sakura said nervously.

"No problem! It'll be fun, I won't even let my brothers annoy you!" She said enthusiastically.

"Awesome! So, where do you live?" Ino asked, realizing she might need to know this. It was pretty important if she was to spend the night at Temari's house.

"Oh, just right around the corner! My brothers and I live pretty much alone there, my father is always out of town so that won't be an issue!" She smiled. They sat talking and drinking for another fifteen minutes, Ino and Temari were mainly trying to get Sakura to join the cheerleading team at their, now, school. Her protest being that she wasn't all too good at cheering, despite doing ballet since preschool.

They left the Naked Café and walked a couple blocks over to Temari's apartment.

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What did you think?

Just so you know, there really is a Naked Café, that's a chocolate café thing, it's really open till like three A.M. and is completely and totally awesome! Go there…


	6. Sleep over at Temari's

Disclaimer: If I did…. Sasuke would never have left!

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Temari, Ino, and Sakura stepped into an old fashioned elevator, Temari sliding the door shut and pushing button 12, the highest number.

"When my family moved in here, we bought out the last two floors and made it all one large apartment for us," Temari explained as the elevator went up. It binged and Temari slid open the door again, revealing a modern, clean-cut foyer.

There was a ledge, which you could see was the second floor of the apartment, a staircase leading up to it, above that you could see a very large skylight. A boy around their age, with disheveled, light brown hair, wearing nothing but a pair of black shorts and a tired expressing, peered over the ledge, jumping down before them. You could see that he was very well defined; he was, in a way, attractive, but in no way equal to Naruto or Sasuke.

"Hey Temari-niichan… um… who are they?" He asked yawning scratching the back of his head.

"Friends! This is Ino-chan, and this is Sakura-chan," she said gesturing to both, "this is Kankuro."

"Hello it's nice to meet you," Sakura said politely.

"Oh, you don't have to be formal with this loser!" Temari said, jokingly, they laughed and they moved to the room where the plasma television and the games were set up. (AN: Just so you're aware Temari's family is loaded.)

The teens collapsed onto a pile of pillows and cushions before the giant flat screen, Temari bent forward and spilled in a fighting game, and said, flashing a sly smile, "Oh by the way we're playing Soul Caliber 2, no questions!"

"Eh? That game! You always kick my ass…" Kankuro said, looking a bit annoyed.

"What's your point? Have you guys played it before?"

"Yes… but Sakura always beats me…" Ino said looking down, if there was one thing that Sakura always beat Ino at, it was fighting games, Ino was a lot better at role playing games.

"Sounds great, Temari!" Sakura said, smiling brightly.

"Oh, la la! I have a challenger, I see! Only my brother, Gaara stands a chance against my awesome pillar of strength!" Temari said, finally connecting with Sakura over something.

"Don't worry, neither you, or 'Gaara' can beat me! Are you any good at 'Ultimate Ninja'?" Sakura inquired, naming her favorite fighting game. (1)

"Love it! We shall play that in a bit!" Temari passed out the controllers, they picked their characters and began to play.

The first round Ino and Sakura were paired of, and Kankuro and Temari. Of course, Sakura and Temari won, and engaged in a ten-minute epic battle. In this time Ino and Kankuro went to the kitchen to get some sodas

"So, you and Sakura have been friends for a while?" Kankuro asked on their way there.

"Yep! She's changed a lot though! When I first met her she was hiding, crying her little eyes out! Apparently these boys had been teasing her and she ran away. That was when we were in like… preschool! So weird…" Ino said, thinking to herself.

"Weird! I wouldn't have expected something like that," he said, holding open the door for Ino.

"Seriously! Now she owns those boys!" Ino said laughing.

"Nice, does she have a boyfriend or something?" he asked, a failed attempt to be nonchalant.

"Now why would you ask a question like that? Unless of course, you were wishing that she did not have a boy of interest or a boyfriend? Ino asked, opening the fridge and grabbing two Diet Cokes.

"So you've seen through me? Well don't worry, I don't like her, I just thought she was hot," he said, grabbing a Classic and a Diet and heading back.

"Like I believe that one!"

"You're way too perceptive."

"I get it from my mother."

When they walked back into the room they saw Sakura and Temari laughing, Sakura had just tried to "poke" Temari with her rod, in the game, only to have her move out of the way and have Sakura fall off of the cliff.

"Nice move, pinky," Temari laughed, patting her on the back.

"Eh? Uhh… wow I'm such an idiot," Sakura said, blushing slightly.

"Who's the idiot?" A red-haired boy that looked slightly familiar appeared at the door taking the Classic from Kankuro's hand and popping the cap, drinking.

"Huh?" Sakura said, looking up in surprise at the new arrival.

"Hey Gaara! Up for a little Soul Caliber? Pinky here is actually pretty decent! When she's not falling off the cliffs!" Temari said, laughing.

"Hey! That was once…" Sakura said, blushing again.

"Sure why not, no matter how good Pinky is, she can't beat me. I'm a killer," Gaara said, a faint smile played across his hard features.

"And thus, the game freaks are distracted!" Ino said leaning back, stretching in a way that makes the men turn in to fools.

"Aye…" Kankuro said, 'turning to a fool.' Ino smiled, knowing exactly what she was doing, _And another one bites the dust_, she sang in her mind.

Gaara, Temari, and Sakura, meanwhile, were fighting to the death.

"Die bitch, DIE!" Sakura said, as her Taki swung forward stabbing Gaara's Kilik in the stomache, killing him.

"Hmph," Gaara sounded, looking a bit angry.

"Wow! Nice going!" Temari said, laughing.

Sakura ran her fingers through her hair, blushing a bit and said casually, "It was nothing!"

"Wow, you're friend bested Gaara in a video game! I'm impressed!" Kankuro stated, tearing his eyes off of Ino.

"Yeah, she does that."

They continued to play games for a while before Temari suggested that they all go to bed, since they had woken up early that morning to go to school.

Temari, Ino, and Sakura lay on Temari's bed, curled up in the sheets, talking. Ino and Sakura had gladly borrowed pajamas from Temari.

"So… Sakura! Truth or dare?" Temari asked, despite the fact they hadn't been playing.

"Um, truth!" Sakura smiled, slightly nervous.

"Truth eh?" Temari thought to her self a moment, "are there any boys that have caught your fancy?"

"Well…" Sakura paused, not really wanting to answer Temari's question, but knowing that she would be forced to. "There is someone, but he doesn't like me back."

Temari smiled brightly and pounced on Sakura, "Who who WHO?"

Ino smiled, in an all knowing way, "Sasuke?"

"Yeah… it sucks…. Though! I can't really do anything about it, he probably just thinks I'm some preppy faker bitch. Why else would he just leave like that? If he cared, or was a gentleman, he'd have told me he was going," Sakura said angrily, looking down at the bear she was holding tightly.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Temari asked, completely confused.

"Tonight at the concert, he came over with a friend of his, we were all getting a long and stuff. Then I started to dance with Naruto for this song, and when I looked back to find Sasuke he was gone."

"I'm sorry…. You were dancing with another boy?" Temari asked, possibly seeing the light.

"Yeah, the boy that got Ino and me tickets to the show," Sakura explained.

"Hm! I bet that Sasuke was jealous of you dancing with Naruto! Most guys would've gotten jealous too, you know," Temari stated.

"You're wrong, I mean, what was there to get jealous of?" Sakura said, confused ever more.

"Oh come on Sakura, Sasuke took his break to come find you there! Also, he was totally checking you out with the body check," Ino blurted out.

"Uh…" Sakura was quiet, thinking about the way Sasuke had been way protective of her with that other boy, and then again he had kicked his friend when Neji had touched her.

"Oh god, I'm so stupid…."

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1 Yes, I made a bunch of preppy girls play video games, and I made Soul Caliber a more then two person game because it fits better, don't you think? And 'Ultimate Ninja' is a Naruto game, which I just had to incorporate somehow!

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Thank you so much to all of you that have reviewed, and those that have kept faithful and true! Please review!


	7. Pancakes and Interviews

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.

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Sakura woke before Ino and Temari and went to the kitchen, to find something to eat. When she finally found her way, Temari's apartment is rather large after all. When she walked through the door she gasped in surprise, seeing Gaara sitting quietly at the table, reading and drinking coffee.

"You're up early," he said, looking up at her.

"Yeah… sorry to disturb you, I was just getting some food…" Sakura said.

"Don't worry. I'm always up this early, it's just a rarity that someone else is too. What were you going to eat?" he asked standing up.

"I don't really know…" Sakura blushed, looking down.

"I'll make you something," Gaara said, not really giving Sakura the chance to refuse him, "What do you like?"

"Anything is fine really! I don't want to cause you any trouble!" she stammered, holding up her hands.

"Pancakes? Eggs? Waffles? Toast? What do you want?"

"Umm… okay… I guess… Pancakes!" Sakura said, feeling guilty.

"Okay," he said quietly, getting out what he would need for them. He made them in silence, while Sakura sat on the counter, watching him at work.

"Can I help?" she asked, swinging her legs back and forth.

"Yeah… Want to pour the batter on to the stove?" Gaara asked.

"Sure!" Sakura hopped down, looking hopeful at the thought of being at use.

"Okay…" he said, handing a ladle to her, "do you know how?"

"Yep! We made omelets in Home EC last year! Same basic principal!" She said enthusiastically.

She dipped the ladle in, pouring them out slowly and thoughtfully, not wanting to upset Gaara with her bad pancake making. They waited patiently until they were done and Gaara took them off of the electric stove and onto two plates.

"Want anything on them?" he asked, setting the plates on the table, getting out knives and forks.

"Strawberries?" she asked, hopefully still.

"Okay." He got them out without another word and set them on the table. He sat at the table, waiting for her to sit to begin. Sakura moved slowly, feeling awkward.

Gaara was, in a way, attractive, but he was so different from Sasuke or Naruto. Nothing about the red haired boy made her feel warm or welcomed, he was like a fountain of cold and dark feelings. There was no light about him, and she got the feeling that Gaara couldn't have cared less about her.

Sakura sat said thank you, and began to eat silently, after putting on the strawberries, of course. They ate in complete silence, which only added to Sakura's feeling of distaste from him.

"Wow aren't you two cozy!" Temari exclaimed as she walked into the kitchen with Ino.

Sakura smiled up at them in relief, thankful to have someone, anyone break the icy silence.

"I made her breakfast, that's all," Gaara stood up, having finished his and was ready to move on.

"Good morning! How was your sleep? Were you two just sitting here, not speaking?" Ino asked, taking her place at the table.

"Unfortunately…. But I did get a good night's sleep! Your brother scares me a little Temari-chan," Sakura said, looking down at the plate.

"He has that effect on people," Temari replied simply, "how are you getting a ride home?"

"Train, maybe I could call Kiba or someone and ask for a ride," Ino answered.

"Lets call my mom, I'd feel bad waking Kiba," Sakura stated.

"You guys can borrow some clothing if you want, and return in whenever," offered Temari with a smile.

"Thanks!" And with that they got up and went to Temari's closet.

It was bigger then a normal person's bedroom, rows upon rows of clothing, most of which brand name or designer. Temari walked through the rows, appearing to know where everything is, throws a Lacoste lavender polo and jean skirt at Sakura, then a pair of Lucky Brand jeans at Ino, and an AE t-shirt all the while speaking about what they should wear more of, due to their coloring and body types of course. (1)

"Thanks Temari!" Sakura smiled brightly.

"No problem! You damage this bag, and you will die," she laughed, passing a Dolce and Gabana bag to Sakura, "to hold your clothing bag with you."

Ino and Sakura got dressed, and left, saying thank you again, Sakura and Temari exchanging cells.

Ino and Sakura walked to the train station, taking it back to their area. When they got there Sakura's mom was already waiting, in a red Maserati, received from her latest divorce. She asked them if they had fun, speaking briefly of her night before dropping Ino off at her house and taking Sakura home.

"Hey mom, can I get a job?" Sakura asked thoughtfully, she had been thinking about it for some time now. Ino sometimes worked in the flower shop her mom owned, now Temari worked at the Naked Café… and she hated asking her mom for money.

"Hmm? If you want to I guess… but why would to want to?" her mom had never had an honest day's work in her life, came from a rich family, married up.

"Bored I guess…" Sakura replied simply.

"Well… the Mangekyou Bakery is hiring, you could try there!" She smiled, "I could drop you off there where you can apply, if you like."

"Sure, thanks mom," Sakura smiled back. A couple minutes later they pulled in front of a medium sized cake shop. The inside was painted a deep shade of red, with black swirls and curved lines painted at random. There was a little area with five small tables where people could eat and drink; the chairs and tables were black metal. Along the opposite side there was a silver counter, and glass cabinets filled with different sweets. Behind the counter was a pale man, he had a shoulder length ponytail and wore a black turtleneck.

The man smiled sweetly and asked in a low, seductive voice, "May I help you?"

_He seems so familiar…_ "Uh? Oh yes! Can I apply for a job here?"

"A job…? Alright, I could interview you now, if you're free," he said again, in that low voice.

"Oh, now? Um… Okay I can!" She smiled, Sakura hadn't thought it would go this fast.

The dark haired man put a sign in the window saying he would be back in ten minutes, and moved to the back, opening a door that led down a hallway, he turned and said, "coming?"

"Oh, yes!" Sakura quickly moved after him, they walked down the hallway into an office pained like the front, yet still managing to be bright. The man sat behind a desk and Sakura in a chair in front of it. He pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen.

"Name?" he asked, not looking up.

"Sakura Haruno," she said, nervous.

"Age?"

"15"

They continue with the standard application questions. (2)

"So, why do you want to work here?"

"I don't really know… um… it just seems like a good place to work, and I don't live far away, and I like to bake, so I thought it would be a good idea," Sakura said, thinking that saying it was the first thing that her mom suggested wouldn't be the best idea ever.

"Really? Well, do you have any past work experience?" the man asked.

"Not really… I've helped out in my friend's flower shop during the holidays, but that's it."

"Hmm…. So basically, you have very little past experience working, and you decided to apply here on a whim, not to mention you're underage," he said, seeing through everything that Sakura had said so far.

"I… uh… well… yes. You're right…. But! I am really good with people, I tend to run on time to early, and I am capable of waking up early on weekends, and over the summer!" Sakura said, trying to plead her case.

"Hmm… you do seem enthusiastic…. When are you available?" he asked, standing up.

"Oh! I can work on weekends, and Tuesdays and Thursdays after three," Sakura exclaimed, taking this as a good sign and standing up as well.

"Alright, I'll call you later today to arrange the details," the older man flashed a heart wrenching smile and added, holding out his hand for her to shake, "My name is Itachi Uchiha."

"Uchiha?" Sakura said, stopping dead in her tracks, stunned.

"Yes, you know the name?" Itachi asked curiously.

"Yeah, there's a boy in my class named Sasuke Uchiha, any relation?" Sakura said, still stunned.

"He would be my little brother," Itachi smiled again, holding open the door for her.

Sakura walked through to the hallway, still looking at Itachi, "Thank you," she said.

They walked down the hall to the front area, when they opened the door they found said little brother sitting on one of the tables, his mouth dropped when he saw Sakura with Itachi.

"What did you do to her?" he shouted, jumping off the table and pouncing over to them grabbing Sakura and pulling her away from Itachi, using his body as if to shield her from his brother.

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(1) If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then that's okay.

(2) Ask your mom or dad if you've never filled out an application, it's not that complicated.

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Thank you to all who reviewed! Please keep up the good work, you're what keeps my writing through my pain and suffering!

I'm so sorry it took so long to post this! I went camping this weekend; we've had power outages and so much more! It's a cruel, cruel world out there people! Then… just when my Internet is working again and when I'm finally ready to sit down and edit this again, a.k.a. comma-fy… I loose my edited draft, so this is unedited so please don't hate me. Thank you for putting up with me, I'm so sorry!

_Edit_: Oh my God! The heavens seem to hate me! I posted the wrong version of the chapter… the one that wasn't finished yet! Wow, I'm pathetic….


	8. Reality

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters.

Thank you to my editor LV-chan!

I hope that you all like this chapter, I'm a little worried about it but hey let's just hope that it all works out at well as it can.

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Itachi started to laugh, looking from Sasuke to Sakura.

"Sa- Sasuke?" Sakura said, looking nervous.

"Sakura, stay away from this man, he is evil and corrupt, a menace to society," Sasuke said, still holding her from him.

Sakura was very aware of Sasuke's body so close to her, her heart was beating like a humming bird.

"That would be very difficult for her, Otouto, seeing as she's working here now," Itachi grinned evilly, seeing the expression on Sasuke's face as his eyes widened with fear.

"Impossible," Sasuke said, turning to Sakura, questioningly.

"It's true, I just got the job today," she said, afraid to look at his eyes. _I see now what everyone means when they say we was scary_, it was true, Sasuke looked completely different then usual. There were dark circles under his eyes, his face contorted in fury; it was like nothing she had seen before. His usual aura was a dark shade of blue, calm, in a way warm and welcoming, while still giving off vibes of faint coldness. But now, his aura was red as his eyes. _As his eyes?_ Sakura, gaining strength looked up at Sasuke's eyes, they weren't the normal shade of almost black brown, but red. In his eyes were two little, black, teardrop shapes surrounding his pupils. _If looks could kill… _Sakura thought, now scared of this new Sasuke.

"It's true Uchiha-san… I just got the job," Sakura said, looking down.

Sasuke looked at her shocked, she never used honorifics with people from school, not to mention she called him by the last name. He looked at the pink haired trembling girl before him; his eyes reverting back to normal, feeling horrible, knowing he had scared her. _Fuck… now she is scared of me too…._

"Sakura…" he turned, looking back at his brother, "fine, I can except that she now works here on one condition, that I work here too, I don't want her alone with a perverted old man like you."

"Alright, I can deal with that, both of you be back here on Tuesday around four to get your schedule's and uniforms," Itachi said, his fox-like smile always in place, never phased.

"Humph," Sasuke sounded.

"Huh…? Um… I'll be here," Sakura said, still scared.

"See you both then," Itachi said, laughing at the two youths, before turning and going back to the backroom.

"Come on," Sasuke said, wanting more then anything to get Sakura out of there as soon as possible.

"Huh…? Oh… okay…" she said sadly, she followed him as they walked out.

Once out on the street Sasuke turned to Sakura, she still was looking at the ground, as if afraid he'd kill her if she looked at him.

"Sakura…I'm sorry…I know you're probably now terrified of me, but me and my brother…. Around him I just can't control myself…. I mean… umm…" he said this, pausing and looking back at her, scared of her reaction. They were now in a alley way, alone, that lead to a park parking lot behind the bakery.

"Huh? Oh… it's nothing," Sakura said, still not looking up from her boots, playing with the hem of her shirt.

"No, it isn't…" he said, getting desperate, he stepped closer to her, taking her chin in his hand, his face now filled with the complete and total sadness that was overwhelming to him, "please, you have to understand!" he said, his voice exasperated.

Sakura looked up at him, her eyes wide, looking as if she was about to cry she pushed him off of her, and ran for it.

It was now clear to her how he felt about her, she knew he liked her, and she was also aware of her own feelings for him, but she was scared. He was nothing like anyone she had ever been with before; she was also scared of her own feelings. Sakura had never, truly, liked a boy the way that she liked Sasuke, she felt weak, vulnerable, terrified of being hurt in a way that so many other girls had been.

She ran up the main street, not looking where she was going, trying to fight back the tears that were growing inside of her. Behind her she could hear the dark boy running after her, calling out her name.

"Ouch!" Sakura had just run head long into Naruto. She looked up, relieved that it was him, she clutched on to his shirt, holding on tightly, her body trembling.

"Sakura…?" Naruto asked confused, "is something the matter…?"

"SAKURA!" Sasuke came running up behind her, he saw Sakura holding tightly on to Naruto, burying her face in his chest, "Sakura…?" Sasuke looked as if he was about to cry.

Naruto looked from one to the other, he saw the way that Sakura was trembling and assumed the worst.

"What did you do to her…?" Naruto turned angrily to the pale teen.

"I didn't do anything!" Sasuke said, nearly shouting at the blonde that had his arms wrapped around Sakura, "I swear!"

"I don't believe you, just get out of here! You need to stop bothering Sakura, she did nothing wrong to you!" Naruto shouted angrily, he cared deeply for Sakura; he wasn't about to let some punk ass freak hurt her. Not a chance.

"Fine, I'll go," Sasuke turned his heal and got away from there, it was a losing battle, he wanted nothing more then to go punch the blonde's lights out, but he wanted Sakura to be happy more. _She chooses him, there's nothing I can do about it… I just want Sakura to be happy, even if it means that I'm not part of her life, I can deal. _Sasuke walked to his car, trying to convince himself that he was doing the right thing by not snapping Naruto's neck just now. _She'd prefer it this way… _he said as he opened the door to his car, gritting his teeth. He tried to smile sliding into the drivers seat. He paused for a second, fake smile in place, before it faded, and he banged his head against the steering wheel, _why the fuck did I do that?! Losing my temper in front of her like that! Now she's going to believe what everyone has been telling her about me. God I'm so fucking stupid!_ He banged is head viciously again the steering wheel again angrily punching the dashboard until his knuckles were bleeding. Exhausted he collapsed back in his seat, panting_. Enough… if it turns out she does like me… no… I can't do that to myself, there's no way she does, we're not even friends._

Back to Sakura

She sniffed, pulling away from the blonde before her.

"What happened, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, he looked so concerned, so sweet.

Sakura smiled up at him, wiping her eyes dry and shaking out her hair, "Don't worry, it was nothing that Sasuke-san did."

Naruto looked down at her, filled with worry for his friend, "Please… if you're ever upset about something, please come to me. I want to be able to help you!" he smiled brightly in a way that would make most any girl melt where she was.

"Don't worry about me! I'm a-okay!" she said, feigning cheerfulness.

"Are you hungry? We could go get something to eat…" Naruto said, hopefully, "I know a great ramen place around here!"

"Naw, I'm fine! I just want to get home, I am pretty tired you know!" Sakura smiled.

"Sure?"

"Yeah! I am!" Sakura flashed him a beauteous smile and turned to walk away, but paused and looked back at him saying, "hey Naruto? Call me later, I think I'm going to be pretty hungry for some ramen around eight tonight!" before walking away.

Naruto smiled brightly.

Sakura skipped down the street, trying to convince herself that she was happy with the way things went. Why shouldn't she be happy? She had a date with the hottest guy in school later, and she just got a job at a really cute bakery!

She was smiling brightly, skipping lightly. Her foot caught on a sidewalk crack, causing her to fall face first on to the cement, she caught her fall with her hands. Moaning, she pulled up, standing up again, her palms flecked with stone and blood. Sakura closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around her middle, her suppressed emotions overfilling her.

The pink haired girl crossed the street, paying no heed to the cars coming, to the park. She walked across the park to the swing set, sitting, looking at her palms_. God, I'm such an idiot. Why did I run? Why didn't I tell him I love him? … Love him…._ Sakura closed her eyes, a single teardrop falling on her cheek.

_Him and I… we just aren't meant to be together…_

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I know. It grammatically unsound beyond all reason. Why? I forgot the edited copy in my locker... because I'm stupid. I might re-publish the edited version on Monday, just so you know!

Did you all like it? Was it too terrible and angst-filled? Am I a paranoid freak?

Thank you times a million and two to all who have stayed faithful and review every time and continue to read my worthless story!

Please read Hoops!


	9. Upset

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters.

Hello everyone! I posted this rather fast didn't I? Yay me! Just kidding, don't you worry!

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Sakura swung back and forth slowly, thinking of her options.

_I could just cancel with Naruto, and call Sasuke…. _

_No, that's a bad idea. Naruto is… I can't exactly go out with Sasuke anyway, it would be horrible for my reputation, as an honor roll student and as a prep. _

_But I like him, and he likes me…. _

_No. I have to think straight. Even if we do like each other it wouldn't work out between us, we're just too different. _

_No matter how sweet, kind, caring he may be…_

_I have to be strong. It's just a crush. A stupid, insignificant, meaningless… crush…._

Sakura leaned back in the swing, putting her legs up so she's upside down. Straightening back up again, she closed her eyes.

_Even if I do like him, it's just stupid for me to go with him._

_So I'm going to sacrifice my happiness, for my reputation…?_

Outer Sakura didn't answer this question, shutting it out from her mind, silencing her inner-self.

She stood up, grabbed her bag and walked out of the park and headed home. She was going to go with Naruto.

To Sasuke!

The pale teen pulled into his driveway, stepping out of the car and slamming the door shut, not letting himself think about the day. Sasuke walked across the gravel and up the way to the large house that he lived in by himself, that his parents had left him when they died. He pulled open the door dumping his school stuff onto the couch, going to his room. Walking through the plain white halls, eyes still shut.

"YOU'RE GONNA NEED A BODY BAG! I'LL BREAK BONES YOU DIDN'T KNOW YOU HAD! WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU THERE WILL BE NOTHING LEFT OF YOU FOR YOUR FRIENDS TO HOLD ONTO!" his cell phone screamed at him, reaching in his pocket lazily pulling it out, and flipping it open.

"Hey," the dark teen said lazily into the device.

"What's with the 'hey', sound more enthusiastic, brat!" Neji's voice said through the phone.

"……." Was all the answer Neji got.

"Well aren't you grumpy," Neji said, "still pissed about last night?"

Sasuke grunted.

"Did you see her again or something?" Neji said, hitting the nail on the head, "was she with that blonde preppy?"

"You always were annoyingly intuitive," Sasuke said, annoyed.

"Haha, I know, I rock. So spill, what happened?" Neji said, knowing Sasuke would answer him now. They had a strange, almost girlish relationship, maybe because they were bonded together with their loathing and lacking of their families.

"Fine. She got a job at the bakery my brother owns, I flipped and dragged her away then she ran away from me, conveniently the blonde was just down the street and she ran into him, sobbing hysterically. Out of fear of me. Oh, by the way, I now work there," Sasuke said, drowning in anger and self pity.

"Ouch… that sucks man…. Want me to come over?" Neji asked softly, he knew what had happened by the word "flipped", "Did I tell you about the time I used the Eight Trigram Palms in front of Ten Ten?"

"No… what happened?"

"She started dating Lee and I used it on him out of jealousy, without thinking…. She hasn't spoken to me since…. Sorry that probably just makes you feel worse…" Neji said, realizing the effect what he said must've had on Sasuke.

"Yeah, it does," he said, more then a little angry with his white-eyed friend.

"Well… do you think she likes you but she was just scared and panicked?" he said, hopefully.

"No, why would she like me? Basically every boy in our entire bloody school thinks she's hot, even the one's when girlfriends," Sasuke said.

"Because you can basically beat up every boy in your entire bloody school, even the ones in gangs?"

"Shut up."

"Meh, well, I'm coming over. Its already decided, I'm actually in my car right now, I got in when I heard your tone of voice so I'm almost there," Neji said, "peace, see you in a minute," shutting his phone, worried about his friend. 

Sasuke sighed, looking down at his bloody knuckles for the first time, blood was flowing between his knuckles, his fingers as if painted red. Just as he was thinking that he should wash off his hands, Neji walked in shouting, "Hey kid, where are you?" he never let it down that he was older then Sasuke.

"Over here," Sasuke called, trying to wipe of the blood from his still bleeding hands.

"K," Neji called, walking to where Sasuke was standing, noticing the blood dripping hands immediately and grabbing the little emo boy's wrist and dragged him to the bathroom, all without a sound from either party.

Neji washed off Sasuke's hands carefully, then put Neosporin on them before wrapping them tight with bandages. Neither of them thought this was odd, or in anyway ashamed of this, it was just the way they were, they way they always had been. They had been friends for so long that they were like brothers, at times like these, no matter what their differences were, even if it had been one that beat up the other, they would still bandage each other up.

When Neji was finished they walked to the kitchen, Sasuke sitting on the counter, Neji making T.B.M.'s (1). They ate in silence, both thinking.

"Hey, Neji? Is there anything I can do?"

"Probably, I just don't know yet."

"Hmph, load of help you are," Sasuke might've been heart broken and scared that Sakura would never speak to him again, but he was still Sasuke Uchiha.

"Uh huh, you shouldn't be alone here tonight, you're staying with me again," Neji said assertively.

Back to Sakura

When she got home she shut the door quietly, and walked up to her room, collapsing on the bed, it hard been a rough twenty-four hours and she was exhausted.

1. Incase you're unaware what a T.B.M. is it's a tomato/mozzarella/basil sandwich, and Sasuke's favorite food is tomatoes… don't as how I know this…….. 

-------

What did you think? I thought it was really pretty sweet! By the way, this isn't a yaoi story, Neji and Sasuke are really close but they aren't going to start dating or anything! Lots of girls have friends that they're really close to and hug constantly without people thinking they're yuri, so why can't guys be that way? Besides, it makes me happy that they're friends in my story, because in the actual Naruto they're both pretty much loners that can't rely on anyone! It's so tragic….

Happy Earth Day everyone!!! If you don't know what Earth Day is, you officially suck.

Oh and as a side thought, Sasuke's ring tone is Body bag by Hit the Lights, its an awesome song that should be listened to by everybody! Because it's a sexy beast… like Sasuke…. I was actually about to buy it last night as my ring tone for my cell… either that or Girlfriend by Avril (the had like seven different kinds of the song Girlfriend, including it in Japanese and Mandarin, crazy eh?) but then I decided that I shouldn't be looking at ring tones but instead reading Tale of Two Cities, which is actually pretty good, that I had to read forty pages of last night because I space out and procrastinate like mad, reading it for school. ANYWHO! You probably don't care about my required reading, or what ring tones I have on my cell, (incase you do: Marching Bands of Manhattan by Death Cab for Cutie, Cecilia by Simon and Garfunkel, Bleed Like Me by Garbage, and Hands Down by Dashboard Confessionals….)

Peace out my devoted readers! Thank you to those that have reviewed! You rock!!!


	10. Rush

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters.

x.x.x

Sakura laid on her bed, thinking about like and all of its consequences. She had always been good, too good. Her life had gone from one ceremony to the next, always congratulating her achievements in academics, her work with charity, and her involvement with her church and its youth group. But why she had done these things, she was never really sure. It's not like she really cared about any of it, despite the façade she put on for the public's benefit.

She sat up and looked at herself in the mirror, running her hands through her long pink hair. _Why am I always so… good? Maybe I'm not really like this, maybe I was destined for something else…. So why did I get this life?_ She shut her eyes, bringing her knees close to her and resting her head on them, _Why was I giving up someone I cared about so much, for a reputation that I, deep down, didn't want. Why do I give a shit…?_ Sakura stood up, breaking her ball of isolation, and went to her bathroom grabbing a pair of rusty old scissors and towel.

_What was the point of any of it? Why have I been trying so hard for something that doesn't matter? Why do I care? What's the point in living?_

She walked into the bathroom, standing before the three-way mirror above the counter.

"Goodbye," Sakura Haruno ran her fingers through her hair one last time.

x. To Sasuke .x

Neji was driving; Sasuke was trying not to think about the red light and two stop signs he had just run, not to mention the little kids Neji almost killed. The Hyuga had an amazing talent for avoiding cops while driving; it was as if he could see them coming a mile off.

"So, want to tell me where we're going?" Sasuke said, watching Neji make a left turn on red, paying no heed to the angry honks.

"You see, if I did that, it would take all the joy out of it; it would be no fun at all, which would be bad," Neji stated factually, which is a word.

"And that would be terrible, of course…." Sasuke stated sarcastically.

"Naturally," Neji pulled into a parking structure abruptly.

Sasuke, who hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings, didn't know where they were.

Neji slid into a parking spot, getting out of the car and waiting for Sasuke to follow.

The dark haired Uchiha paused, he never knew what to expect from his white eyed friend, but decided, against his gut, to get out of the car. He went and followed Neji into a pair of sliding glass doors. The moment he stepped inside, leaving behind the cool dark parking garage, he realized where he was.

He was in the mall.

Sasuke decided to make a run for it, he looked around, a group of giggling girls were walking through the doors, gossiping loudly, Sasuke ran straight through them, knocking two over, bounding through the doors and across the lot.

He, most unfortunately for him, made it about twenty feet before Neji caught up with him. It hadn't felt as Neji had struck him but the next thing Sasuke knew he was being dragged back into the mall, attracting many stares from passers by.

"Why are we here?!" Sasuke demanded.

"Because you love Sakura, right?" Neji said, dragging his struggling friend with one hand.

"Huh? What? So?" Sasuke stammered, wondering how all this was connected to the mall.

"Therefore, we must reinvent your look, to be someone she might like," he said, still dragging him.

Sasuke was silent, thinking about how far he'd go for Sakura, he'd kill for her, fuck it, he'd even die for her, but would he banish his pride and wear a Polo?

xxx. Four hours later – to Naruto .xxx

"Hey Kiba, have you seen Sakura?" Naruto had been standing outside of the ramen store now for a haft hour, waiting for her to get there.

"No, why?" he said back, a little worried.

"She didn't show up, we were supposed to go out tonight. I've called her cell, her house, and Ino, but no reply from any of them! Think she forgot?" Naruto said, sounding pretty girlish.

"No… she isn't the kind of person to forget that kind of thing. Sorry, but I can't say I've seen her," Kiba said, thinking to himself about who to call. _Sasuke? Yeah, he might know where she is…._

The wolf boy looked through his phone for Sasuke's cell number; they had worked on a project together before and exchanged numbers. Kiba pressed send, waiting for the Uchiha to pick up.

"Kiba?" Sasuke's voice sounded through the phone.

"Yeah, you see, Sakura was supposed to have a date with Naruto, but she never showed and she isn't picking up her phone or anything. I was just wondering… if maybe you had something to do with it? Naruto called me a couple minutes ago, sounding freaked," Kiba said, getting to the point.

"She didn't show? You're right Kiba, that isn't like her," Sasuke said, worried, but all together a little pleased.

"Yeah… Have you seen her? For Sakura to not pick up her cell… its like Naruto dying his hair black and proclaiming Mindless Self Indulgence is his favorite band, it just doesn't happen, besides Sakura is well… she's pretty scary when she gets upset, she doesn't take things lightly," Kiba said, trying to convey why this was weird.

"Hn," Sasuke's silence proclaimed he understood.

"Yeah I know," Kiba said.

"I haven't seen her since this morning; what do you want me to do?" Sasuke said, getting more freaked with the tone of Kiba's voice.

"I don't know, I just called to see if you've seen her; you don't have to do anything," Kiba said, surprised; he hadn't really been expecting the sound of rage and concern that filled Sasuke's voice.

"You don't understand I have to, I need to. If she's hurt…" Sasuke's voice was growing more desperate by the second.

"I could tell you where she lives or something, you could go check on her if she's home, if not you can leave a message with Kanna, give me a second," Kiba said, nervous at his tone, and going through his Sidekick for her address before reading it out to Sasuke.

"Thanks for calling, tell me if you find anything else," was the last thing Sasuke said before hanging up on him.

Kiba looked down at his phone, hoping Sasuke would be able to find her okay.

x. To Sasuke .x

Sasuke stood up from where he had been sitting in a chair in Hollister for the past hour as Neji went around the store, finding clothes for him.

He walked over to where Neji was talking with a lady about what would look better on the "sulking emo in the corner" and hit him over the head when he heard how Neji had referred to him.

"Hey, I'm leaving," Sasuke said, before walking away towards the door.

"Huh? Why?" Neji called, following him grabbing the bags of clothing they had already bought.

"Because," Sasuke said, now sprinting towards the door they had entered through.

"Okay then," Neji was now having difficulty keeping up with him.

Sasuke paused when they got to the car, standing by the driver's seat, waiting for Neji so he could get the keys. Neji ran up throwing the keys at Sasuke and getting into the passenger seat, knowing from the look on Sasuke's face speaking to him now was not the best idea in the world.

The dark haired Uchiha punched Sakura's address into the G.P.A. in Neji's car and left the garage, moving recklessly enough to make Neji put on his seat belt.

"So, where are we going?" Neji asked, trying to sound off-hand while holding onto the seat so hard his knuckles were white, as Sasuke made a sharp ninety degree angle, ignoring then red light.

The soft female voice of the G.P.A. system said, "Take a right turn at the next intersection, into Clear Rose development. At the speed you are going at it will take you approximately six point two nine eight minutes."

Sasuke ignored Neji's question and speed up further, saying more to himself then the boy next to him, "Must get there faster,".

Sasuke couldn't explain it but he felt that something bad had happened, something horrible to Sakura.

They were now in a beautiful neighborhood, speeding up a hill lined with countless trees and stunning old stone buildings.

"You're destination is fifty meters ahead, you have arrived at your destination," the friendly voice said as Sasuke whipped into Sakura's driveway skidding to a halt before her house and getting out, slamming the door behind him.

X.END.X

Don't you just love cliff hangers? I was able to write this one pretty fast! It's because I was, am, sick and missed two days of school. So I had a lot of free time to read two (not manga) books and write this chapter!

Thank you to all who review and read!


	11. Blood

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

x.X.x

Sakura lay collapsed on the floor of her bathroom, in a puddle of her own blood. She tried to move her arms, but soon realized she was too weak from lose of blood. Crying silently, her tears mixing with her blood, she thought to herself that this wasn't how she had planned to go no one would be expecting this from her how would they've?

_I wonder if anyone will remember me a year from now, _she thought dimly to herself.

Then she heard it; a bang down stairs hurried conversations between her maid and some unknown force than rushed footsteps growing nearer. Somewhere around her someone had thrown open the door and was shouting the blurry shape was picking her up shaking her, a familiar voice was shouting. She could feel one of the burry forms holding her tightly

Sakura's eyelids became heavy; she moaned slightly the pink haired girl tried to say, "Leave me alone" but the words wouldn't take form in the mouth. The last thing she saw before everything went dark was, two blurry forms one with glowing red eyes.

x. Sasuke's view .x

Sasuke bounded to the door kicking it down. He ran up the grand staircase leading from the foyer just as he was doing this a voice called to him from the top of the steps "What are you doing here? Who are you?"

"Sasuke, Sasuke Uchiha. Can you tell me where Sakura's room is?" he asked the twenty-year-old girl in a maid uniform, in a hurried voice.

"Huh? Are you a friend of hers? Take a left then it's the first door on your right," she said growing nervous as the dark haired boy grabbed her shoulders frantically.

"Right" was all he said as he ran down the hallway, the white-eyed brunette sprinting to keep up rushed an apology to the nurse.

They bonded into her room, using Sasuke's kicking method again, calling out Sakura's name frantically. He looked around the room and saw a door leading off to a bathroom cracked with blood seeping out from under the pale yellow door.

"Sakura..." Sasuke said sadly, before he rushed into the bathroom.

The sight that befell his eyes was not a pretty one. Sakura lay sprawled on the tile, drenched in her own blood huge cuts across her stomach and down her arms. Her entire body shaking violently, she was gripping a pair of old scissors the blood running from her fingers.

"SAKURA!!! Can you hear me?! Wake up! Please wake up you have to! I need you to! COME ON!" Sasuke cried, grabbing hold of her trying to shake her to life.

Somewhere behind him Neji had called an ambulance.

Sasuke pulled off his shirt and began to rip it up wrapping the makeshift bandages around Sakura's arms. As he finished this up he heard the ambulance pulling up to the house.

Neji ran down stairs to meet them, and brought them up to her room.

They rode through the town the to the hospital Neji following behind in a car, all the while in silence Sasuke never taking his eyes off Sakura.

"I'm sorry but you two are going to have to go wait in the waiting room, we can't let you past this point," a nurse said, to them with a worried sort of expression. Sasuke and Neji didn't respond to her they just turned and walked to the waiting room.

They sat in silence Sasuke wrapped up in his own mind, Neji deeply concerned for his friend's mental state.

Sasuke sat, staring straight ahead unblinkingly his hands gripping his knees with white knuckles for a full twenty minutes before the same kind nurse from before came out again.

"You are very lucky you're friend will be all right," she said with a smile on her face "she will have to spend the night here tonight, but she should be okay to go home tomorrow. She's lost quite a bit of blood and has gotten extensive stitches. If you had found her any later, we might not have been able to do anything."

"Thank you very much, what do we need to do as far as paperwork goes?" Neji asked politely, he knew that of the two of them he was the only one that could do anything that required thought at the present moment.

"Yes, I'll go get the forms you need to fill out," the kind nurse said before she left the waiting area.

Sasuke's aura brightened when the nurse said that Sakura was okay. His knuckles were less white and he had his eyes shut peacefully as if some huge weight was suddenly lifted off of his shoulders. The nurse came back and Neji started to fill out the form, because he didn't have her real information and because he was bored he made it out as if Sakura was Sasuke's sister.

After another thirty minutes or so the nurse came back into the quiet waiting room.

"You can now go see her, she's starting to stir a bit."

Sasuke bounced up immediately saying gratefully "Thank you…" to the nurse.

"It's all right. Follow me." Neji and Sasuke followed her through a couple twisting hallways and up an elevator until they finally reached Sakura's room.

She sat sitting up on the bed in a hospital bed her eyes open. When Neji and Sasuke entered the room and she saw them, she looked away her eyes watering slightly. Under her breath she muttered, "I'm sorry… I don't want you to see me this way…."

"Sakura…" Sasuke crossed the room in two steps, taking hold of her and holding her close to him, "please… don't push me away."

"Sasuke…. I won't ever again," Sakura closed her eyes hugging him back despite the pain in her arms. She tried to cover up her fears, to remain strong, but she had no will for it. She gave in.

x.X.x

No cliffies this time! I'm so kind hearted and generous!

Sorry that this took quite a bit of time to publish but I have been really busy! I was sick, then I had a ton of make-up work, still do actually but I need a break or my brain will implode.

Sorry about all grammatical errors, my editor is mad at me….


	12. Visitors

Sakura and Sasuke sat together on a hospital bed. They were sitting, talking about everything, their families; Sakura's being gold digging mothers and rich fathers, Sasuke's parents being dead, his brother being who he was, school, friends, and so much more. They realized that they had known very little about each other and were making an effort to get past all that wasted time.

"You know… I never hated you… I've liked you for a while now," Sakura said, quietly looking down.

"Huh? I don't understand then, why would you run from me then? Why the hell did you go with that blonde idiot instead of me?" Sasuke asked, slightly annoyed.

"Naruto isn't _that_ stupid! He's really pretty nice! Why did I run from you…? You're eyes were growing red… it was like you were a demon, it was terrifying. And then there's my rep. I've literally spent my entire life trying to be something else, something I'm not. I've had to be pretty, smart, popular, better then Ino, for so long, I was thinking…."

"What?"

"Why sacrifice all of that… for some boy," Sakura complete, twiddling her thumbs and avoiding Sasuke's gaze.

"Some boy…?" he repeated sadly.

"No! I mean! I don't feel that way now! That's why I… I was sick of always doing what everyone wanted…. Oh shit! My mom! She doesn't know where I am! I stood up Naruto!" Sakura said, finally realizing there were probably people out there looking for her, "Oh this is bad! My mom probably doesn't really care, but Naruto aghhh." At this point Sakura curled up into a ball with her legs up and her arms wrapped around them.

"Hn," Sasuke said, thinking he should call Kiba, since it was him that told him to look for her after all.

Sasuke pulled out his cell and pressed send twice, dialing the last number to call his phone, Kiba.

"Sasuke?" Kiba's voice said, sounding confused, "did you find her?"

"Yeah I did, she had a… accident… don't worry, she's fine now," Sasuke said.

"Accident, what do you mean? Are you guys in the hospital?" Kiba sounded thoroughly worried.

"Yeah, we are," Sasuke said, Sakura was staring at him in confusion.

"Damn! Okay, Konoha right? I'm on my way. I'll be there in five minutes." Was the last thing Sasuke heard before the line was cut.

Sasuke shut his phone and looked down at it smiling and thinking to himself, _Kiba truly is a good kid_.

"Sasuke, what's going on?" Sakura asked, looking worried.

"Kiba's on his way. He called, asking me if I had seen you earlier, then gave me your address," Sasuke said, looking up at her.

"Kiba did that? But… why?" Sakura said, astonished.

"He's a good friend, he worries about you, all of you. I don't think he does it out of feelings for you or anything, then I'd be jealous and hurt him cause he would actually pose a threat, unlike that blonde baka, besides, I know that he likes someone else," Sasuke stated.

"How do you know this? Who?"

"Eh? We've known each other a while, even if we aren't friends, he was the first to call to make sure I was okay, after my parents…."

"Wow…."

"Yeah…."

"Sakura!" Kiba burst forth, Akamaru in hand, and scooped up Sakura immediately hugging her, "I was so worried! I tried everything!"

Akamaru was barking and licking Sakura at the same time, an amazing feat.

Sasuke was laughing, Kiba held Sakura at arms length looking over her, checking her out for cuts and bruises. His eyes did not fail to catch the heavily bandaged arms, but he hard enough sense not to mention it.

The rest of the day Sakura spent in the hospital, Sasuke with her throughout it all. Word seemed to spread that she was there so she had a couple visitors, a couple showing up with extensive flowers and the like, word didn't seem to spread that it was only for one day.

x.x.x

Okay! Sorry about how short that was, I'm a horrid person! But keep in mind I'm working on a science project and its Mother's Day!

I'm posting this now, short as it is, because I won't get a chance to write anything over the next week or so because of the fact I'm in this musical at my school and that means I have to spend from tomorrow to next Saturday cuing people and covering if the fuck up, aka I'm the kid that sits in front of the stage shouting if someone forgets their line! YAY ME!

Thank you for reads and reviews!


	13. New boy

Sakura moved to a table in the back of the art room, carrying a thick bushy paint brush, a cup of water, some bluish-green watercolor paints, a large thing of plastic wrap, and some water color paper. When she got there she laid out all her things staring at it, trying to figure out if she should do an abstract design or just random colors. As she thought Sasuke came up behind her, and said, "What are you doing?" in her ear faintly.

Sakura emitted a high pitched noise that would've made a dog cringe, while Sasuke started laughing hard, a rarity for him. He attempted to say something to the effect of "sorry" though his laughter, but failed miserably.

"You sure do scare easily," he said with a grin spread across his face, when he finally stopped laughing

"Not that easily…" she said blushing slightly.

"Yes, that easily. What are you doing with that stuff by the way?" the raven asked, looking at the water colors and plastic wrap.

"I'm water coloring the background," Sakura said, getting the paints ready, watering down the watercolors on a white tray that held the traces of many a project before.

"Yeah, but what are you doing with that plastic wrap?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura didn't respond, she just dipped her think fluffy brush into the water and began to spread the water all over the plain white sheet, repeating this several times until the sheet was thoroughly drenched. As Sakura did this, Sasuke went off in order to find what he needed to begin his project.

"Hey, everyone, we have a new student today, be nice," the art teacher, Genma, called to the class. 

Sakura looked up and saw a pale boy with straight, dark brown hair, wearing a black belly shirt, low cut black pants with red trim and a blank expression. She turned her attention back to her work and her paint brush into the blue watercolor. Sakura then touched the brush to the soaked paper, the blue ink bleeding out into a strange pattern, then she ran the paint brush along in a random pattern, the blue paint stretching out along the way.

"This seat free?" a bored voice asked, causing Sakura to jump.

"Huh? Oh, yeah that's Sasuke's chair but that one is free," she said, pointing to the seat across from her.

"Okay," the boy said, putting his red bag on the floor and sitting down, waiting for the teacher to come give him instructions.

Sakura rinsed off the blue paint and began to spread the yellow paint across the paper, in some places causing it to mesh with the blue paint causing it to turn green. She did this until most of the paper was covered in green, blue or yellow. After that she cut off a piece of plastic wrap and scrunched it up slightly and put it over the majority of the paper, leaving space along the edge of just paint.

"Cool painting," the boy said, watching her paint.

"Um, thank you!" she smiled, looking back at her picture. At this point Genma came up and started speaking to the boy, saying that the class had just last class begun their free-projects. He explained that he could do most anything he wanted for the next project.

Sakura stood up, carefully taking her painting to the back drying rack, then getting a sheet of paper and heading back to her table to find that Sasuke was now back at the table, forming different shapes out of thick wire with a set of pliers. The boy and Sasuke were not speaking.

"Hey," Sasuke said, not looking up when she sat back down.

"Hello," Sakura replied, smiling.

"Hi," said the boy, thoroughly bored.

"Hello. Oh! I just remembered, I don't have your name," Sakura said, looking up at him.

"It's Sai, what's yours?" the newly named boy asked.

"I'm Sakura, and this is Sasuke," she said kindly, gesturing to Sasuke.

"Cool."

"I guess… have any ideas on your free project Sai?" Sakura asked, making conversation.

"Probably draw something."

"I see! Over there is the paper," she said pointing to a large wooden structure divided into many different sections, each holding a different type of paper, "if you need any help, just ask!"

"Alright," Sai stood and made his way over to the structure.

Sakura turned to Sasuke now looking at what he was doing curiously. She was about to ask him what he was doing with the metal when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She flipped it open reading the text. It was from Ino reading: "Hey, how's art going? We're doing frog dissection in bio, so depressing…" (Writer's Note: Due to my extreme inability to 'text-speak' they're going to have good grammar in their texts like all people with brains should.)

Sakura smiled knowing that her blonde friend was probably hiding in the bathroom, and responded: "Yeah it is. Art's good. There's a new kid."

She slid her phone back into her pocket, turning to Sasuke, "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm making a sculpture, not really sure what I want to do with it yet…" Sasuke said, putting down his materials and looking up at her.

"That bites," Sakura said.

Sai returned, setting the paper down and staring to draw.

Sakura's phone vibrated, she flipped it out and read "Ooo! Cute?" she looked up at Sai a moment and then replied "In a way, not really your type though. Getting 'quiet artist type' vibes."

Sasuke noticed her texting under the table and asked, "Who are you talking to?"

"Ino," she smiled, reaching in her bag and taking out her sketch book.

"Why?"

"She's my friend…?"

"Why?"

"Because she….is? I don't know!" Sakura said not able to come up with a reason _why_ they were friends. They just were.

"Okay," he said, turning back to his work twisting two pieces together.

Her phone vibrated again. "How disappointing…" "Lol you're insane!"

x.X.x

I'm sorry it took so long and it's not even that long, but I've been/am ridiculously busy, I wrote this while waiting for a cake I'm baking to cool off.

Please forgive me!

Read and review! Even if I am a horrible person…. 


	14. Morning

x.X.x

_6:15 am_

Text from Ino: Morning sunshine!

Sakura: …….

Ino: Don't be bitter!

Sakura: Why shouldn't I be?

Ino: Because the birds are chirping and the sun is shining and today is Orlando Bloom's birthday! I'm coming over. (1)

Sakura: doesn't reply but instead turns off her phone and goes back to sleep.

_Twenty minutes later._

Something large and blonde pounces on Sakura.

Sakura grabs hold of that large blonde something, and pushes it off of her, effectively tossing it across the room.

Sakura's eyes finally adjust to the brightness of her room and sees Ino sitting on her bed, looking annoyed.

"Huh? What are you doing here?" Sakura said, jumping back in surprise at her friend suddenly being in her room.

"I'm guessing that you forgot about the text I sent you this morning?" Ino said, laughing at the number of times she has done this with Sakura.

"What on earth are you spouting? I didn't get any texts this morning!" Sakura said, shaking out her hair and standing up, beginning to look for something to wear for the day.

"Check your phone," Ino said, laughing on the inside, and the out for that matter.

"I'll take your word for it."

"Mmkay. Oh, I just remembered something! Don't you start work today at the Mangekyou Bakery with the Uchiha boy?" Ino said, going through Sakura's closet and handing her a yellow dress with little red strawberries in a random pattern, "wear this by the way."

Sakura shrugged and changed into the dress, slipping into a pair of Mary Jane's, along with dark stockings.

They walked down to Sakura's kitchen, Ino grabbing an apple (-) and Sakura grabbing a handful of cherries (fear my amazing pun usage). Both of them sat waiting for their coffee to be ready.

"Hey, hey, you, you I don't like your girlfriend!" Ino's cell blared. She looked down a little surprised before pulling it out of her bag.

"Shika?" Sakura inquired, popping a cherry (blossom) into her mouth. (Pun un-intended)

"Yop," Ino flipped it open.

Sakura could only hear Ino's side of the conversation which goes as, "Good morning! How art thou my little slacker?" Pause " I'm over at Sakura's house. You know she's hopeless without me, she'd probably have turned up with Gaara-type eyes and wearing chains." Pause "Of course that'd be a negative!" Pause "What do you like girls with a rougher edge?" Pause "How interesting." Pause "Mmkay. Peaces."

At this point she hung up and turned to Sakura, saying, "hey, want a ride to school Shikamaru is on his was."

"Sure," Sakura said, throwing her stems in the trashcan. Sakura ran back up to her room, realizing that she'd forgotten her paisley Vera Bradley backpack on her desk. When she came back down Ino was waiting by the front door for her. They waited in silence until Sakura's phone beeped twice, signaling that she'd just received a text-message. It was from a certain dark-haired, emo-tastic love of hers and read, "Morning sunshine. I'll drive us from school straight to work today okay?"

"Who's that from?" Ino asked, being her usual noisy self.

"You're favorite boy," Sakura said, letting Ino count off the boys that pissed her off on her fingers as Sakura replied to Sasuke's text with "Alright, let's meet outside of the by the back entrance after 9th bell."

"Sasuke?"

"Aye," Sakura nodded, "we start work today after all."

"Oh right, forgot that you got a job at that bakery place. The owner guy is kind of pretty, for an old guy."

"It's Sasuke's older brother."

"Scratch what I just said."

"Aye."

They waited in silence for another couple minutes before Shikamaru pulled up. They both got into the back seat, seeing as Choji, Shikamaru's best friend, was occupying all of the passenger seat. Sakura, Shikamaru, and Choji sat in silence, Sakura drinking her coffee, as Ino prattled on as if she'd been up for hours.

They arrived at school with just enough time to get to homeroom before the late bell rang, signaling that they all had detention.

When Sakura and Ino arrived, Sakura looked about, hoping to see Sasuke, and to much surprise, he was sitting, talking to Hayate-sensei, who was much surprised by Sasuke's appearance in homeroom.

"Morning Sasuke!" Sakura smiled, poking his arm as she approached him.

"Hello, how are you?" he said sounding as if he had woken up about five minutes ago.

"Good, you?" she asked.

"Fine, fine, just tired. I want to go back to bed. Homeroom is worthless."

"Not entirely! It gives you a couple minutes to get in the school mindset before your first class!" She said overly perkily, taking a huge sip of coffee from the container in her hands that she clutched too as if her life depended upon it.

"How much of that stuff have you drank already this morning?" he asked, smiling and poking her coffee cup.

"Not that much!" she said, again overly brightly.

"Yeah…" It was very clear that Sasuke did believe that his pink-haired friend hadn't been drinking too much coffee.

They sat talking for another ten minutes before the bell rung, signaling the end of homeroom.

With a quick goodbye Sakura dashed from homeroom and up the stairs to her Italian room. She sat in her assigned seat and waited for the rest of the class to arrive. When all were seated and the starting bell had rung the teacher came to the front of the room and said way too loudly, "Good morning my beautiful class! I am feeling that in order to keep up our youthful enthusiasm we must change seats!" And thus Gai-sensei began to ring off the new seating arrangements.

When Sakura sat down in her new seat barely had time to look up before her new desk partner shouted loudly and happily in her ear, "Good morning Sakura-chan!" _Oh no, anyone but him, dear God no!_

Unfortunately her greatest fears were realized, "Hi Lee-kun," she winced as he began a speech of how the "great fate of a springtime of youth" had brought them together.

x.X.x

(1) Note! It's really like spring in the story, and yes I'm aware that Orlando Bloom's birthday is actually January 13th not at all in springtime, it just makes for a better-ness.


	15. Dream

"Sakura, hey! QUESTION! Why is such a young blossoming springtime youth wearing long sleeves in this weather? Aren't you hot? Did you just feel like wearing them?"

_Please dear God, grant me the patience to not snap his neck._

"It is a cute shirt after all, if I was a girl I'd wear it, though true I always wear green. So, I guess I really wouldn't wear it after all. Not that I don't like it. Green just goes so well with my skin tone and eye color! How can I not wear green? It's a color that symbolizes youth and joy. It is the color of newly formed soft spring grass that pads the earth floor giving us a beautiful natural carpet for us to walk on!"

_Twenty more seconds of this and I think I really will kill him. But then I'd be convicted of murder and I'd have to find somewhere so stash the body. Too much effort._

"Did you hurt your arm? Did something bad happen? Are you okay? Saku-chan, are you going to die? DON'T LET YOUR SPRINGTIME YOUTH DIE! STAY STRONG!"

_Maybe not too much effort…._

x. Let's switch to a morning in the life of everyone's favorite Saucy-uke (Sasuke) .x

_A raven with strange red eyes took off from a tree in the center of a deep black wood. The raven soared high and free, twisting and turning through the beautiful dusk. He heard a voice singing a soft song off into the distance and decided to fly toward the voice that seemed to be calling him ever so sweetly. The raven followed the voice throughout the night, needing to be closer it. _

_As the moon rose high into the midnight sky, the red-eyed raven spotted the faint outline of a castle. The closer he got to the castle, the more the beautiful voice that was filling the night air began to twist. The voice that was once so soft and sweet morphed into a most terrible screech that made the raven's ears bleed with the very sound. Despite his pain, the raven flew into the open window that the voice was flowing from. A fair maiden was lying on the cold stone floor, blood flowing from cuts all over her body, staining her once elegant pure white dress. The maiden's scream upset the raven. He did everything he could, wishing with every fiber of his being that he could turn into a knight to save her even if it meant he would never be able to hear that voice again, for he knew that even if he saved the fair maiden and told her that he would die for her, she would curse his existence and want him dead, for she was the light, and he was the darkness. _

_Whatever god that was listening granted the raven's wish, turning him into a handsome young man with the power to heal his love. A rare smile brushed across his face as he leaned over her, about to take away her pain at last when her blood turned black, freeing itself from her body, forming black tendrils of death reaching toward him. The screeching of his love's voice grew worse, her entire body twisted in most horrible pain. The tendrils grabbed him, wrapping around his neck and strangling him ever so slowly as he listened to the love of his life, the only light that had ever reached him, scream in pain._

_The maiden and the raven remained like this forever, the words forever forming in his mind, Don't betray the night, as was stuck for an eternity in hell…._

"You're gonna need a body bag! I'll broke bones you didn't know you had. When I'm done there will be nothing left of you for your friends to hold on to, when the find you cold and blue tonight, face down in a parking lot."

Sasuke rolled over, holding his pillow over his head in a vain attempt to block out his phone that was blaring angrily, signaling that Neji was calling him. The chorus started again making Sasuke grunt and reach over grabbing his mobile and flipping it open. "What the hell do you want?"

"Only to greet my joyous friend, you, in the morning! And to make sure you were awake," Neji's voice sounded brightly on the other end.

"God damn morning people," Sasuke hung up and turned off his phone, rolling over trying to fall back into sleep again but was haunted by his dream. He sat up stretching, covered in cold sweat his body shaking slightly.

_Don't betray the night…. Whatever that meant…_

He turned his phone back on and took a shower, trying to shake the nightmare from his mind. He got dressed and got his stuff ready for school, twenty minutes earlier then he normally, _Accursed Neji..._, meaning on time, and decided instead to head off to school.

((Author's note: since I said what happens in homeroom last chapter I'll just skip it.))

Sasuke sat in his first period class, still thoroughly shaken by his dream; the raven drifted off into his only little world of thought.

"He- hello Uchiha-san," a stuttering voice broke through Sasuke's trance.

"Oh, hey Hinata," he said, smiling a little, "would you stop calling me that? Being called Uchiha-san makes me twitch big time."

"So- sorry, Sasuke-kun," she said, smiling brightly.

"Better, only next time, don't apologize!"

"Hey everyone, look up here," Kakashi-sensei called, walking into the classroom ten minutes late, "today you guys are going to be set up in pairs and then you and your partner will analyze a dream that one of you had and then you will write up a story incorporating it. Start."

"Hey Hinata-chan, want to be my partner?" Sasuke offered.

"Su-sure! I umm…. Didn't have a dream last night…." Hinata said, looking down.

"Don't worry about it, I actually had a dream. It kind of freaked me out though," Sasuke then dove into a description of his dream in an uncommonly vivid remembrance.

"And at the end the words, 'don't betray the dark' kept floating through my mind. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it."

"Hmm…. I don't think that you should let your dream keep on scaring you, it was only a dream after all. As for what the dream means… the raven in your dream was drawn in by the voice of the maiden and fell in love instantly. When you think about, all he knew was that she could sing well and that she was beautiful, he knew absolutely nothing about her personality. But despite this, he gives up his form for her, the ability to fly and gives up the night, he betrays who he really is, he gives up all that he had once loved, for someone he doesn't know and might be a total jerk that needs a mood ring. If you were the darkness, wouldn't you feel sad? I'd miss him flying through me if I was the night sky. I'd want to punish him. I'd want to cause the girl that had taken my raven away so much pain."

"Hinata?" Sasuke said after several minutes of him in silence and her blushing at what she had said.

"Ye yes... Sasuke-kun," Hinata said blushing.

"You're really smart."


	16. Team Members

Sakura sighed in relief as the last bell of the day rung throughout Konoha High School, about ten seconds afterwards her cell phone started to ring.

"Hey," said Sasuke's voice through the phone, "what's up?"

"Nothing really! Did you have a good day?" Sakura smiled brightly, happy that Sasuke had called her.

"Decent, do you need a ride to work, we're supposed to get introduced to people today and get our uniforms."

"Oh yes, I forgot all about that! I'd love to, where will you pick me up?" She asked, walking through the hordes of people in the hallways.

"Front entrance? Off to the right, see you in a minute."

"See you there," Sakura said, hanging up her phone and heading through the jam-packed entrance hall. Once outside she veered of the right and hopped into the passenger seat of Sasuke's car. "Hey."

"Hello," Sasuke said as Sakura buckled her seatbelt and he drove off from the school, neither within the car noticing all the confused glances from those around them.

Five minutes or so later they pulled up to the Mangekyou Bakery and got out of the car. They walked in silence into the shop, Sasuke was trying to come up with ways to avoid this all the while, Sakura was just hoping not to screw everything up, get fired, and make Sasuke think she's worthless, while Sasuke wanted her to be fired so she was no where near his brother.

"Hey Sasu-bozo! Itachi told me you were starting here today! And this must be Sakura, uh? My name is Deidara!" a man with a blonde Pollyanna reached out a gloved had to shake Sakura's hand.

"Aye, I'm Sakura! Its nice to meet you Deidara-sama!" she smiled brightly, wanting to make a good impression. She was reaching out to shake Deidara's hand but Sasuke grabbed her wrist before she could.

"Don't touch him, and never get to close to that hand," Sasuke said, not taking his eyes off Deidara, but addressing Sakura.

"Uh! Sasuke, you offend me! I would never harm such a lovely young woman!" the blonde man exclaimed.

"Deidara, your energy never ceases to amaze me," Itachi said, coming out of the back room closely followed by a red haired man.

"Hello, you two are on time," said the red haired man.

"Thank you!" Sakura exclaimed.

"It wasn't a compliment, it was an observation," he said, in a completely dry tone.

"Oh, I see," Sakura said, looking down trodden.

"Stop picking on her, Sasori," Sasuke said defensively.

Suddenly, Hinata burst through the door, panting, causing everyone to turn and look at her.

"I'm … so… sorry… that I'm… late," she said, panting and holding on to her chest, "I ran here after school, but lights… all red… bad…."

Sasuke looked shocked, "You okay Hinata-chan?" he said, going over to her and putting a hand on her back.

"I'm fine, Sasuke-kun," she smiled up at him, blushing like mad and straightening up, she turned to Itachi, Sasori, and Deidara and said bowing, "please forgive me for my lateness."

Sakura glared at Hinata, her mind boiling, W_ho was the chick anyway?_

"You know her, little brother?" Itachi said, looking a little surprised by the way Hinata and Sasuke acted.

"Yeah, we our in a couple of the same classes, does she work here?" Sasuke said, look up at his older brother.

_She goes to our school? I've never seen her before… he sounds too hopeful…_ Sakura thought maliciously.

"Yep!" Deidara answered for Itachi.

"Well, I just wanted you all to meet each other today," Itachi said, "Sasori, Deidara, and myself all bake the things that we sell here, occasionally we'll work the counter, but only if we're short handed. Hinata, Sasuke, and Sakura will usually work the counter and generally take care of the front end. Got it all?"

A general nod of agreement.

"Good, now, seeing too the incident last week where Hinata wore a fishnet shirt, most tasteless I might add young lady, Sasori wore this horrendous brown dress thing, just plain ew, and Itachi wore a trench with red clouds on it, seriously where did you get that thing, I've decided that we need uniforms!" Deidara exclaimed, earning death glares from Sasori and Itachi. Deidara ignored them and went on pulling out a box and handing everyone packages, "see! There's a reason I asked Itachi to get your measurements!"

x.x.x

I'll add another chapter tomorrow probably but I'm really tired and real bad for not posting in oh so long! I've been on vacation a lot this summer and when I've been home I've had writer's block, still do which is why this little non-chappie sucks! Please review!

3 Boo


	17. Who is She?

"See? This will solve all of your pesky little wardrobe malfunctions!" Deidara said, attempting not to get killed via death glares. Those standing around him opened up their packages. Sasuke's contained a black pair of pants, with two silver chains on the right hip, a dark red vest, and a black button down shirt with three quarter length sleeves. Hinata and Sakura's contained black sweet Lolita dresses with black stockings, complete with a puffed out skirt and corseting in the top portion, all the accents on them were either white or they were red, Hinata's were white and Sakura's were maroon. Sasori, Deidara, and Itachi's were all the same as Sasuke's only theirs had black ties and full length sleeves. "and this way you don't have to spend time getting dressed! You just need to throw it on and wear it well!"

"Hmm, I can see why uniforms would be good, they'd provide us with a chic polished look," Itachi said, thinking a bit.

"Hn," Sasuke said, holding it up.

"See! They'll solve all our fashion issues!" Deidara said.

"Fashion issues?" Sasori said, in a tone that made Deidara look slightly taken aback.

"Well… some times… you guys just don't wear the proper clothing for your… uh… natures! You have such beautiful outsides and insides you just don't always dress properly…" Deidara rambled, Itachi and Sasori hovering dangerously near Deidara.

"Beautiful insides and outsides?" Sasori said.

"Are you on something?" Itachi said.

"Guys, chill, Deidara's an idiot. All ways has been always will be," Sasuke intruded.

"HEY I'M" shouted the blonde male at the top of his lunges.

"Yeah, you're right. Not worth my time," Itachi said turning back to Sakura, Hinata, and Sasuke.

"True," Sasori said, turning away from Deidara as well.

"Anyway, here are your schedules, there are more counter people and bakers, but that doesn't really matter right now, you'll meet them when you do, you can leave now," Itachi said, leaving and going back to the baking area.

"Bye bye!" Deidara said before turning his heel and walking back.

"Good luck," Sasori turned and left as well.

"So," Sasuke said, breaking the awkward silence after they left, "you must have the patience of a saint working here in this asylum."

"Oh no! They …um… aren't that bad! Deidara just… gets excited… and Sasori freaks if you're late…. And Itachi… yeah… um…. Its fun!" Hinata stuttered.

"What do you mean by 'yeah…um'," Sasuke asked intimidating.

"Well, he's just… gets a little scary sometime…. No! Its not like he means too… sometimes he's just…." Hinata stammered defensively.

"Whatever, its fine," Sasuke said, waving his hand.

"Well, Sasuke and I aren't working now, so yeah… Can I get a ride home Sasu-kun?" Sakura smiled, clinging to Sasuke's arm.

"Sure thing, peace Hinata," Sasuke said waving before leaving the shop with Sakura.

Once back inside the car Sakura asked Sasuke, "So, where do you know Hinata from?"

"Hn, she's in my English class, we're working on this dream project together right now," Sasuke said, keeping his eyes on the road in front of him.

"Dream project?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei wants us to write about something we dreamt."

"Oh," Sakura said, looking out the window.

"We're here, bye," Sasuke said, pulling up to her house.

"Yeah… bye bye," Sakura said, getting out of the car and walking up to her house.

Once inside the door she slammed it shut, screaming at the top of her lungs, "_Who the hell is she_?"

x.x.x

So that's the 17th chapter!

More like part two to chapter 16 but yeah….


	18. Enter Sai

Er, hello! I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a… long time…. I've been really busy lately. I've been in and out of the hospital for the past couple months, and thus forth have been trying really hard to stay on top of my school work so yeah….

x.x.x

I'm going to write this chapter in first person, Sakura's point of view, just for a change of pace, and it will add "dimension" maybe!

x.x.x

A week had passed since Sasuke and myself had gone to work for the first time together. The week could not have passed any slower for me. I've been just biding my time, waiting for the sweet, sweet weekend. Meaning I could avoid Sasuke like the plague, stop fake smiling, and spend money on things I don't need with Ino at the mall.

I waked goodbye to Shikamaru, he had driven me home. I chuckled lightly to myself as I entered my house, closing the door beside me, I haven't ridden the bus in months, despite the fact I don't drive and I never use public transportation. I just always get a ride…. Wow, so much of my life really is dictated by those around me. I frowned slightly at this thought as I went up to my room and threw my backpack on my desk.

_  
Can you handle the curves? _

_Can you run all the lights?_

Huh? I should probably answer that.

_  
If you can baby boy then we can go all night_

I stared at the bulge in my pocket for another second before grabbing it and opening up my phone without looking at it, "Hello?"

"Hey Sakura, what's up?" Sasuke's voice rang through my phone, "are you okay? You've been seeming kind of distant this past couple days."

No shit Sherlock.

"Er, sorry lot on my mind!" I said, almost nervously.

_Beep, beep, beep._

"Hey, Sasuke? I've got to go, Naruto is clicking in!" I said, thankful to have an excuse to get off the phone with him.

"What? Naru-"

I smiled clicking over to Naruto, "Hey! Sup, foo?"

I could hear Naruto chuckling on the other end of the phone, "Alright if that is how you want it, yo ho? Wanna chillax wit alla centre commerciale?" (1)

"Um, you do realize that you switched from Ebonics to Italian halfway though your sentence?" I laughed, sitting up on my bed.

"Details, shim-tails! Honestly Sakura! I thought you were smart! Putting aside the mindless details for a bit, want to go shopping with me and my friend Sai later? Don't worry, he's not some crazy perverted old man with horrid taste in fashion."

"No worries Naruto! I know you better then that, I seriously doubt that you would hang out with anyone with bad fashion taste!" I stated, as if it was the most true thing in the universe.

"Why thanks Sakura! Wait a second, you didn't say anything about me being friends with crazy perverted old men… Sakura? Are you implying something?" Naruto sounded, as if it was slowly dawning on him.

"I'm afraid I'm more than implying. You must've forgotten. I met your uncle and aunt last summer," I said laughing and moving to sit on my knees, holding my pillow to my chest.

"Oh, right…." Naruto said, remembering the fateful day that we had both tried, very hardly, to erase from pir memories, "forgot that you met him!" apparently Naruto was able to succeed, almost. "Heh heh…. yeah…. But know this! Most people I know aren't like that!"

"Just the ones that practically raised you?" I offered oh so kindly.

"Yes! Wait, no bad!" Naruto stumbled over his words miserably.

"Sorry! It was just too easy!" I laughed, squeezing my pillow, a deep dark part of the mind trying to remember when Sasuke made me laugh like this. No! Bad thoughts! "Anywho! When are you picking me up?"

"How in about an hour? That should be should time for you to get that healthy layer of school grim off of you! Believe it! In world studies today… I thought I was going to pass out!"

"Jerk! You're going to regr…"

"Just kidding! JK! JK! I promise!" I could almost see him holding up his hands in dismay and a sweat drop slipping down his brow, "an hour it is then?"

"Sure…. Did you seriously just say 'jk'?" I said, as if I was regretting agreeing to go shopping with the light haired oaf.

X.X.X about an hour and fifteen minutes later X.X.X

"You're late," I said, answering the door, flipping my hair back as a sign of pure anguish.

Naruto scratched the back of his head, messing up his, styled, blond spikes, "I got a whee-bit lost on the way here," Naruto said.

I chuckled, "And by 'whee-bit' you mean…?"

"Just be glad that Sai was there to bale me out. Otherwise I'd probably be halfway to Star!"

I walked outside, closing the door behind me, "Star? Mighty impressive!"

"Seriously, you know that bridge that if you go over it then you have to go like a half hour before you can turn around again, legally?" he asked, opening the back door for me, seeing as how there was a boy already sitting in the front.

"Unfortunately, our blond friend fails at directions. Fortunately, I do not fail. Its nice to meet you, my name is Sai," the boy in front said, turning around with a rather strange smile on his face.

"Pleasure, I'm Sakura Haruno," reaching out and shaking his hand, "I'm impressed that you were able to convince him he was wrong!"

"Sometimes, you just need to take the wheel with bone heads like him," he said, still smiling brightly.

"Hey! You two do realize that I'm sitting right here, right! I can totally drive well! Believe it losers!" Naruto shouted, filled right to the brim with mock anger, slapping Sai upside the forehead.

Sai laughed and punched him back, "At least I have the mental capacity to find my way out of a box."

"What makes you think I would want to get out? When I was smaller I could spend _hours_ in a box!" Naruto exclaimed loudly.

Sai and I laughed, he said, "Don't you mean last week?"

"Maybe…." Naruto huffed, pulling into a parking spot.

x.x.x

1. For you non-Italian/Ebonics speakers Naruto said "Hello my female friend. Would you care to join me at the mall?" I make myself chuckle. BTW! If you're Italian, or speak Ebonics know that I'm not meaning to be offensive in any shape or form.

Hey! I promise I'll update soon! Reviews will make me update a lot faster, seriously! No joke!


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